Waste plastics to prepare eutectogel: Wearable, highly deformable, transparent flexible ionic conductors

The emergence of flexible conductor wearable electronics will revolutionize motion detection and smart healthcare. Eutectogel (E-GEL) is more economical, resistance to extreme temperatures, green and environmentally friendly compared to ionic gels and hydrogels. PET is generally recycled as a conventional polymer. This paper presents a new process for the production of flexible ionic conductor from PET. Here, we using waste PET bottles as raw material, and the green, ternary low-eutectic solvent (DES) ChCl/EG/Zn(Ac)2 as a catalyst, synthesized waterborne polyurethane by the one-pot method. By modulating the types and densities of multiple hydrogen bonds and supramolecular interactions of binary DES (ChCl/EG), using WPU, P(AAm-AA) and ChCl/EG, responsive E-GELs with excellent mechanical (stress of 8.87 MPa, strain of 680 %), excellent ionic conductivity. In addition, the E-GEL can be loaded-unloaded continuously for 1000 cycles at 25 % strain, that demonstrates excellent fatigue resistance. DES give eutectogel the ability to resist both −50 ℃ to 80 ℃ temperatures. As a demonstration of the device performance, wearable strain sensors assembled using E-GEL can monitor and recognize complex human movements in a fast, real-time manner.