Highly adhesive and self-healing γ-PGA/PEDOT:PSS conductive hydrogels enabled by multiple hydrogen bonding for wearable electronics

Biocompatible conductive hydrogels are progressively showing great significance in bioelectronics because of the porous structure, electronic transport capability, tunable mechanical properties and great biocompatibility, where materials with high conductivity, good mechanical properties, and easy processability are demanding. In this work, we develop hybrid conductive hydrogel consisting of γ-polyglutamic acid (PGA) and poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), which shows good cytocompatibility, flexibility (~380 kPa stress, ~650% elongation) and conductivity (~12.5 S m−1). Especially, multiple hydrogen bonding interactions endows hydrates with adhesive performance, self-healing abilities and optimal injectable properties. In several proof-of-concept attempts, skin-like sensors fabricated by a facile molding-injecting method can successfully detect precise signals from human motions for healthcare monitoring and the understanding of the biological basis of a particular behavior. A conductive hydrogel with great adhesive and self-healing ability has been designed by multiple hydrogen bonding interactions to create soft sensors. The hydrogel shows good cytocompatibility, flexibility (~380 kPa stress, ~650% elongation) and conductivity (~12.5 S m−1). [Display omitted] •Conductive hydrogels with great adhesive and self-healing ability.•Conformable electronic devices on human skin.•Robust hydrogel with combined properties simultaneously, including great biocompatibility, stretchability and electroconductivity.•TENG sensors have been demonstrated to provide the possibility for human-computer interaction.