Electroconductive, Adhesive, and Ultrastretchable Hydrogels with Self-Healing and Antimicrobial Properties for Intelligent Sensing

In artificial electronics and ionic skin, high-performance mechanical self-healing, adhesion to the substrate, and antimicrobial materials for flexible electronics are highly demanded and challenging due to inevitable wear and bacterial contamination. Herein, a nanocomposite conductive hydrogel based on acrylamide (AM), graphene oxide (GO), and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) (SBMA) is proposed to be prepared, which enhances the mechanical strength, toughness, self-recovery, and self-healing capabilities through the formation of supramolecular networks. It also exhibits excellent adhesion, conductivity, and antimicrobial properties (the antimicrobial rate against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus is over 99%). It has excellent mechanical properties (maximum tensile strain of 1544.05%, stress of 147.09 kPa) and strong adhesion (184.69 kPa). Density functional theory (DFT) analysis reveals that the multiple hydrogen bonds constructed between SBMA, GO, and AM chains significantly enhance the mechanical strength and self-healing ability of the hydrogel. Such self-healing electrical conductivity and antimicrobial electronic skin will provide better ideas for the design of materials for future transient flexible electronics.