Ying Binbin, Liu Xinyu
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King's College Road, Toronto, ON M5S 3G8, Canada.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0C3, Canada.
iScience. 2021 Sep 26;24(11):103174. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103174. eCollection 2021 Nov 19.
Skin-like electronics are developing rapidly to realize a variety of applications such as wearable sensing and soft robotics. Hydrogels, as soft biomaterials, have been studied intensively for skin-like electronic utilities due to their unique features such as softness, wetness, biocompatibility and ionic sensing capability. These features could potentially blur the gap between soft biological systems and hard artificial machines. However, the development of skin-like hydrogel devices is still in its infancy and faces challenges including limited functionality, low ambient stability, poor surface adhesion, and relatively high power consumption (as ionic sensors). This review aims to summarize current development of skin-inspired hydrogel devices to address these challenges. We first conduct an overview of hydrogels and existing strategies to increase their toughness and conductivity. Next, we describe current approaches to leverage hydrogel devices with advanced merits including anti-dehydration, anti-freezing, and adhesion. Thereafter, we highlight state-of-the-art skin-like hydrogel devices for applications including wearable electronics, soft robotics, and energy harvesting. Finally, we conclude and outline the future trends.
类皮肤电子器件正在迅速发展，以实现各种应用，如可穿戴传感和软体机器人技术。水凝胶作为一种柔软的生物材料，因其柔软性、湿性、生物相容性和离子传感能力等独特特性，已被深入研究用于类皮肤电子应用。这些特性可能会缩小柔软生物系统与坚硬人造机器之间的差距。然而，类皮肤水凝胶器件的发展仍处于起步阶段，面临着包括功能有限、环境稳定性低、表面附着力差以及（作为离子传感器）功耗相对较高等挑战。本综述旨在总结受皮肤启发的水凝胶器件的当前发展情况，以应对这些挑战。我们首先概述水凝胶以及提高其韧性和导电性的现有策略。接下来，我们描述当前利用具有抗脱水、抗冻和附着力等先进优点的水凝胶器件的方法。此后，我们重点介绍用于可穿戴电子设备、软体机器人技术和能量收集等应用的最先进类皮肤水凝胶器件。最后，我们进行总结并概述未来趋势。
