Xu Jia-Li, Zhao Guangyao, Wang Jiachen, Tang An, Liu Jun-Tao, Zhu Zhijie, Zhang Qiang, Tian Yu
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Surface & Interface Science of Polymer Materials of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Biosensors (Basel). 2025 Apr 29;15(5):281. doi: 10.3390/bios15050281.
The rapid development of smart electronic skin has led researchers to design a variety of flexible and stretchable devices that can be used to monitor physiological and environmental signals. In this work, we successfully demonstrate a color-adjustable and conductive wearable optical-electronic skin (OE-skin) based on photonic crystal hydrogel that is capable of delivering both optical and electrical signal responses synchronously. The OE-skin is fabricated by incorporating a structural colored layer, composed of periodically aligned magnetic nanoparticles, into a polyacrylamide hydrogel matrix that contains tea polyphenols and borax. The dynamic boronate ester bonds formed between borax and the catechol groups of tea polyphenols are able to enhance the mechanical properties of the OE-skin, while also conferring excellent electrical conductivity, high sensitivity, and a rapid electrical response. Additionally, the tea polyphenols, which are natural active compounds derived from tea, possess diverse bioactive properties, thereby endowing the OE-skin with excellent antibacterial and biocompatibility characteristics. In addition, the developed electronic skin successfully demonstrates its capability in synergistic electronic and optical sensing during human motion monitoring, indicating broad application prospects in the field of smart wearable sensors.
智能电子皮肤的快速发展促使研究人员设计出各种可用于监测生理和环境信号的柔性可拉伸设备。在这项工作中，我们成功展示了一种基于光子晶体水凝胶的颜色可调且导电的可穿戴光电皮肤（OE-皮肤），它能够同步传递光学和电信号响应。该OE-皮肤是通过将由周期性排列的磁性纳米颗粒组成的结构色层，掺入含有茶多酚和硼砂的聚丙烯酰胺水凝胶基质中制成的。硼砂与茶多酚的儿茶酚基团之间形成的动态硼酸酯键能够增强OE-皮肤的机械性能，同时还赋予其优异的导电性、高灵敏度和快速的电响应。此外，茶多酚作为源自茶叶的天然活性化合物，具有多种生物活性特性，从而赋予OE-皮肤优异的抗菌和生物相容性特性。此外，所开发的电子皮肤在人体运动监测过程中成功展示了其在协同电子和光学传感方面的能力，表明其在智能可穿戴传感器领域具有广阔的应用前景。
