Highly Stretchable, Ultra-Sensitive, and Self-Healable Multifunctional Flexible Conductive Hydrogel Sensor for Motion Detection and Information Transmission

Self-healable flexible sensing materials are extensivelyinvestigatedfor their potential use in human motion detection, healthcare monitoring,and other fields. However, the existing self-healable flexible sensingmaterials have limited their application in real life due to the weakstability of the conductive network and the difficulty in balancingstretchability and self-healing performances. In this paper, a flexiblesensor with skin-like properties was prepared by composing a polymercomposite hydrogel with a multiple network structure consisting ofpolyaniline, polyvinyl alcohol, chitosan, and phytic acid. The compositehydrogel was tested and proved to own high mechanical properties (stretchability approximate to 565%, strength approximate to 1.4 MPa), good electrical conductivity(0.214 S cm(-1)), excellent self-healing properties(>99% healing efficiency in a 4 h healing period), and antibacterialproperties. It had high sensitivity and a wide sensing range for strainand pressure, making it possible to manufacture multifunctional flexiblesensors with comprehensive performance exceeding that of most flexiblesensing materials. Notably, this polymer composite hydrogel can bemanufactured in a large area and at a low cost, which is beneficialfor its further application in many fields.