Conductive and adhesive gluten ionic skin for eco-friendly strain sensor

Modified biomaterials combine the excellent properties of electric conductivity, mechanical strength, flexibility, adherence, biocompatibility and degradability, thus promising as flexible on-skin devices. Herein, an ionic conductive gluten (i-Gluten) was fabricated with the assistance of glycerol and ions. Owing to the strong interactions among glycerol, ions and the peptide chains in gluten, the resultant i-Gluten was conductive, mechanically strong and flexible (strength of similar to 150 kPa and elongation of similar to 600%), sticky, recoverable, biocompatible and degradable. Due to their tight adhesion on human skins and response of conductivity to shape deformation, the i-Gluten was capable of sensing both large-scale (finger, wrist and elbow bending) and subtle human motions (blow, frown and swallow), showing high sensibility and stability (> 3000 cycles). These conductive glutens pave a simple and green way of constructing high-performance and eco-friendly biomaterials applicable for diverse wearable devices. [GRAPHICS] .