We use cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to browse this site you agree to our use of cookies. More info.

Self-healing wearable, flexible sensors to detect human motion created using Janus nanosheets hydrogel are presented in a study published in the journal ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

Study: Wearable Flexible Sensors for Human Motion Detection with Self-Healing, Tough Guar Gum-Hydrogels of GO-P4VPBA/PDA Janus Nanosheets. Image Credit: Gilmanshin/Shutterstock.com

Wearable, flexible sensors (WFSs) that translate bio-mechanical or physiological inputs into observable signals are becoming increasingly important in soft actuators, health monitoring systems, and human-machine interfaces.

To facilitate the monitoring of human physiological stimuli, creating substrates that are allergy-free, stretchable, and sensitive is critical.

Hydrogels are thought to be a suitable basis for WFSs due to their fascinating biocompatibility and softness. On the other hand, traditional biomass-based hydrogels have weak mechanical characteristics, readily destroyed nanostructures, and low recoverability, severely limiting their usefulness in sensing applications. Thus, it is pertinent to build a compatible yet durable, self-healing wearable for multifunctional sensing applications that offer signal reliability and adaptability.

Guar gum (GG), a naturally occurring polysaccharide with degradability and biocompatibility, offers potential for hydrogels; however, purely GG-based hydrogels exhibit poor mechanical characteristics, limited flexibility, and a sluggish self-healing response.

In principle, overcoming these issues involves adding an energy-dissipating mechanism via the construction of multilayer networks.

Hydrogel longevity can be improved using double network hydrogels, nanomaterial hydrogels, and hydrophobically related hydrogels. Nanomaterial hydrogels, for example, exploit the reversible segregation of polymer links and nanoparticles to achieve not just flexibility and toughness but also self-healing and recoverability. Therefore, creating appropriate nanoparticles to incorporate GG-Biomass-based hydrogel networks via various interactions is a viable technique to increase the flexibility and self-healing efficacy of biomass hydrogels.

Anisotropic materials having asymmetric architectures or characteristics are referred to as Janus nanosheets (JNs). This asymmetric structure equips JNs with unique spatial characteristics that may be utilized to study self-assembly and target identification. In terms of compositional features, JNs possess two distinct or opposing qualities.

As a result, JNs are versatile and can handle more difficult environmental criteria. JNs can combine numerous traits and qualities into a single particle. These characteristics make developing accurate and simple ways to synthesize JNs appealing.

Many procedures for creating JNs have been documented to date, namely Pickering emulsion (PE), self-assembly methods, phase separation, and micro-fluidics, among other methods. It is important to consider that PE layouts offer the advantages of particular compositional characteristics of JNs. Taking advantage of these characteristics, such as bi-functionality, ease of design, and regularity of JNs, a range of functionalized JNs hydrogels with self-healing and biomechanical capabilities were produced. As a result of these experiments, it is worthwhile to investigate if incorporating multipurpose JNs into hydrogel-based WFSs may result in fatigue-resistant and highly sensitive sensors.

In this study, the biomass hydrogels containing JNs demonstrated excellent biocompatibility, resilient flexibility, self-healing efficacy, fatigue resistance, and high sensitivity. The team effectively constructed conventional Graphene Oxide (GO)-based JNs by merging reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in a PE environment with mussel-inspired biochemistry.

JNs were inserted into a network of Guar Gum/Polyvinyl alcohol (GG/PVA) biomass hydrogels as a reinforcing agent to produce nanomaterial hydrogels using freeze and thaw cycles. JN hydrogels were shown to have excellent physical strength and self-healing efficacy owing to their multifunctional capacity to construct many reversible interactions. Furthermore, the JN hydrogel-based sensor had relatively high sensitivity, a quick reaction time, and a reasonable fatigue threshold.

The JN hydrogels demonstrated adherence to various substrate surfaces while causing no discomfort to skin cells. The sensor demonstrated exceptional sensitivity and stability for use as a pressure sensor and the capacity to track varied human motions without hysteresis. In a nutshell, the well-designed JN hydrogel-based sensor offered a wide range of applications for wearable electronic devices.

Zhang, N., Zhao, G. et al. (2022). Wearable Flexible Sensors for Human Motion Detection with Self-Healing, Tough Guar Gum-Hydrogels of GO-P4VPBA/PDA Janus Nanosheets. ACS Applied Polymer Materials. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.2c00028

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

Shaheer is a graduate of Aerospace Engineering from the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad. He has carried out research on a wide range of subjects including Aerospace Instruments and Sensors, Computational Dynamics, Aerospace Structures and Materials, Optimization Techniques, Robotics, and Clean Energy. He has been working as a freelance consultant in Aerospace Engineering for the past year. Technical Writing has always been a strong suit of Shaheer's. He has excelled at whatever he has attempted, from winning accolades on the international stage in match competitions to winning local writing competitions. Shaheer loves cars. From following Formula 1 and reading up on automotive journalism to racing in go-karts himself, his life revolves around cars. He is passionate about his sports and makes sure to always spare time for them. Squash, football, cricket, tennis, and racing are the hobbies he loves to spend his time in.

Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

Rehan, Shaheer. (2022, April 14). Super Stable Hydrogel for Wearable Sensors from Janus Nanosheets. AZoNano. Retrieved on June 10, 2022 from https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38985.

Rehan, Shaheer. "Super Stable Hydrogel for Wearable Sensors from Janus Nanosheets". AZoNano. 10 June 2022. <https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38985>.

Rehan, Shaheer. "Super Stable Hydrogel for Wearable Sensors from Janus Nanosheets". AZoNano. https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38985. (accessed June 10, 2022).

Rehan, Shaheer. 2022. Super Stable Hydrogel for Wearable Sensors from Janus Nanosheets. AZoNano, viewed 10 June 2022, https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=38985.

Do you have a review, update or anything you would like to add to this news story?

AZoNano speaks with Dr. Laurene Tetard from the University of Central Florida about her upcoming research into the development of nanotechnology that can detect animal-borne diseases. The hope is that such technology can be used to help rapidly control infected mosquito populations to protect public

AZoNano speaks with Dr. Amir Sheikhi from Pennsylvania State University about his research into creating a new group of nanomaterials designed to capture chemotherapy drugs before they impact healthy tissue, amending a fault traditionally associated with conventional nanoparticles.

We speak with Xirui Wang about research that engineered semiconducting ferroelectric properties into a series of transition metal dichalcogenides.

The Filmetrics F40 turns your benchtop microscope into an instrument for measuring thickness and refractive index.

Nikalyte’s NL-UHV is a state-of-the-art tool that allows the generation and deposition of nanoparticles in an Ultra-High vacuum onto a sample to create a functionalized surface.

The Filmetrics® F54-XY-200 is a thickness measurement tool created for automated sequence measurement. It is available in various wavelength configuration options, allowing compatibility with a range of film thickness measurement applications.

AZoNano.com - An AZoNetwork Site

Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2022