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Transparent, highly-stretchable, adhesive, and ionic conductive composite hydrogel for biomimetic skin

  • Polymers & biopolymers
  • Published:
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Abstract

Flexible, self-healing hydrogels with a variety of desirable properties are required for artificial skin applications. Here, we report a novel ionic conductive composite hydrogel consisting of polyacrylamide (PAM), a silk sericin (SS) network and NaCl for use on bionic skin. The use of NaCl made the hydrogels good ionic conductors. Intrinsic interactions between the PAM and SS endowed the hydrogel with good mechanical properties, including a high tensile strength of 0.36 MPa and a compressive strength of 0.38 MPa. The ionic hydrogel showed a high transparency of 93%, a high adhesion strength of 52 kPa, and good conductivity. After being fractured, two pieces of the ionic hydrogel were re-bonded without external stimulation, which simulated the self-healing properties of skin after injury. The hydrogel displayed moisturizing and anti-mildew properties after being stored at room temperature for 2 months. These ionic hydrogels may find applications in artificial skin, human–machine interfaces and soft robotics.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51773120 & 51802201), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2019A1515110433), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Planning Project (Grant Nos. JCYJ20170412105034748, JCYJ20190808123207674, and JCYJ20190808115609663), the Graduate Innovation and Development Foundation of Shenzhen University (Grant No. PIDFP-ZR2018030), and funding program of Foshan supporting policies for promoting the service industry of scientific achievements in universities (Grant No. 2019XCC09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Shaojun Chen, Jiapeng Xie, Jiaoshi Liu, Xiaoting Huang & Cai Wang

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  1. Shaojun Chen
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  2. Jiapeng Xie
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Correspondence to Cai Wang.

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Chen, S., Xie, J., Liu, J. et al. Transparent, highly-stretchable, adhesive, and ionic conductive composite hydrogel for biomimetic skin. J Mater Sci 56, 2725–2737 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05382-z

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