Polyvinyl alcohol/quaternary ammonium chitosan hydrogels with excellent conductivity, adhesion, antibacterial and biocompatibility for wearable sensors

Abstract

Creating conductive hydrogel flexible wearable sensors with excellent conductivity, adhesion, antibacterial and biocompatibility still poses a challenge. Herein, an electrically stable multifunctional poly (vinyl alcohol)/quaternary ammonium chitosan-lithium ion conducting hydrogel (PVA/HACC-Li⁺) was fabricated. PVA-based hydrogels regulated by Li⁺ and HACC have high electrical conductivity (12.35 ms/cm), high stretchability (∼372 %), excellent antibacterial properties, effectively inhibiting both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and very good biocompatibility (L929 cell survival rate of 108.76 %). Moreover, PVA/HACC-Li⁺ hydrogel successfully serve as strain sensor, which can accurately identify different joint and subtle muscle movements signals of the human body with high sensitivity (GF = 2.42), wide sensing range (0–300 %) and fast response time (183 ms). Thus, this endeavor offers a feasible method for utilizing versatile multifunctional hydrogels in the field of motion monitoring and serves a practical reference for the diverse applications within wearable electronic skin.