Synthesis of high-strength and electronically conductive triple network gels with self-healing properties by the restraint method

Abstract

In this study, we synthesized a self-healing electrically conductive gel based on Agar/hydrophobically associated polyacrylamide (HPAAm) by a restraint-assisted method. Recently, self-healing conductive materials based on such gels have been widely researched. However, as gels are generally weak, the gel-based materials are also often low in strength. Therefore, in this study, we applied the restraint method for adding pyrrole to Agar/HPAAm, which is a self-healing high-strength gel. The synthesized product was a high-strength conductive gel with self-healing abilities. Tensile tests confirmed that the swelling of the synthesized gel caused a low tensile breaking stress. Additionally, electrical conductivity measurements showed that the conductivity was increased by the addition of polypyrrole. These measurements were also carried out after the gel underwent self-healing. 30% of the strength and 54% of the conductivity of the undamaged gel were recovered, indicating the good self-healing performance of the gel proposed in this research.