Starch as a reinforcement agent for poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels from deep eutectic solvent via frontal polymerization

•Frontal polymerization was used to prepare conductive starch/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels.•Starch granules can be partially dissolved and dispersed in the ternary DES.•DES/starch mixture solutions provide with a polymerizable monomer as well as a green medium for FP.•Starch serve as a reinforcement agent both in mechanical strength and conductivity of hydrogels.•Absorption of water can improve the conductivity of composite hydrogels. For the first time, conductive starch/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels from a polymerizable deep eutectic solvent (DES) by frontal polymerization (FP) were reported. The solubility and dispersibility for starch granules in the polymerizable DES was investigated. The effects of starch content on FP behaviors, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of composite hydrogels were studied. Results showed that starch could be partially dissolved and dispersed in the DES. Comparing with the pure poly(ionic liquid) hydrogel from DES (the tensile strength was 41 K Pa), the tensile strength of composite hydrogel could increased by 3.07 times and reached 126 K Pa. When the fixed strain was 80 %, its compressive strength could increase by 6 times and reaches 16.8 MPa. The main reason was that there was a strong interfacial interaction between starch and the polymer hydrogel network. The starch/poly(ionic liquid) composite hydrogels also had good electrical conductivity. Absorption of water could increase the conductivity of the composite hydrogel significantly.