Flexible and wearable sensor based on graphene nanocomposite hydrogels

Abstract

Abstract Flexible and wearable sensor based on nanocomposite hydrogels has been proposed for monitoring the human large-scale, small-scale movements and several physiological signals. The nanocomposite hydrogel, prepared from graphene oxide (GO), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polydopamine (PDA), exhibits excellent mechanical and electrical properties with tensile stress of 146.5 KPa, fracture strain of 2580%, fracture energy of 2390.86 KJ m−3, and the conductivity of 5 mS cm−1. In addition, it possesses other merits including good self-healing with the electrical self-healing efficiency of 98% of its original resistance within 10 s, and strong self-adhesion onto a variety of surfaces of materials. This self-adhesive, self-healing, graphene-based conductive hydrogel can further assembled as wearable sensors to accurate and real-time detect the signals of human large-scale motions (including bending and stretching fingers joints, wrists joints, elbows joints, neck joints and knees joints) and small-scale motions (including swallowing, breathing and pulsing) through fracturing and recombination of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) electrical pathways in porous structures of hydrogel networks. Furthermore, the hydrogel can also be used as self-adhesive surface electrodes to detect human electrophysiological (ECG) signals. Therefore, the hydrogel-based wearable sensor is expected to be used for long-term and continuous monitoring human body motion and detecting physiological parameters.