Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C3, Canada.
Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Aug 11;13(31):37849-37861. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c09231. Epub 2021 Jul 27.
Ionotronic hydrogels find wide applications in flexible electronics, wearable/implantable devices, soft robotics, and human-machine interfaces. Their performance and practical translation have been bottlenecked by poor adhesiveness, limited mechanical properties, and the lack of biological functions. The remedies are often associated with complex formulations and sophisticated processing. Here, we report a rational design and facile synthesis of ionotronic tough adhesives (i-TAs), which have excellent mechanical, physical, electrical, and biological properties and promise high scalability and translational potential. They consist of an interpenetrating network with high-density amine groups and highly mobile chains, which enable intrinsic adhesiveness, self-healing, ionic stability, cytocompatibility, and antimicrobial functions. The i-TAs in both pristine and swollen states possess high toughness, stretchability, and strong adhesion to diverse substrates such as tissues and elastomers. The superior mechanical performance is achieved simultaneously with high ionic conductivity and stability in electrolyte solutions. We further demonstrate the use of i-TAs as wearable devices, strain sensors, and sensory sealants. This work is expected to open avenues for new ionotronics with novel functions and stimulate the development and translation of ionotronics.
离子电子水凝胶在柔性电子、可穿戴/可植入设备、软体机器人和人机界面等领域有广泛的应用。它们的性能和实际应用受到较差的粘附性、有限的机械性能和缺乏生物功能的限制。解决这些问题的方法通常涉及复杂的配方和复杂的处理过程。在这里，我们报告了离子电子坚韧胶粘剂（i-TA）的合理设计和简易合成，它具有优异的机械、物理、电气和生物性能，并具有高可扩展性和转化潜力。它们由具有高密度胺基团和高迁移链的互穿网络组成，具有内在的粘附性、自修复、离子稳定性、细胞相容性和抗菌功能。原始和溶胀状态下的 i-TA 均具有高韧性、拉伸性和对各种基底（如组织和弹性体）的强粘附性。在电解质溶液中，它具有优异的机械性能，同时具有高离子电导率和稳定性。我们进一步展示了 i-TA 在可穿戴设备、应变传感器和感测密封剂中的应用。这项工作有望为具有新型功能的离子电子学开辟新途径，并促进离子电子学的发展和转化。
