Urushiol-Induced Hydrogels with Long-Term Durability and Long Service Lifespan in Mechanosensation

Hydrogel-based wearable sensors have flourished as encouraging candidates for human mechanosensation due to their controllable conductivity and tailorable mechanical performances. However, it is still a great challenge to fabricate hydrogel-based wearable sensors with long-term durability and long service lifespan, while maintaining good sensing sensitivity and mechanical performances. This work demonstrates the formulation of a novel urushiol-induced hydrogel of exclusive microstructure and long-term durability by facile one-step copolymerization, and the development of hydrogel-based mechanosensors with brilliant durability, long lifespan, and long-term and robust adhesiveness in air and water. The hydrogel-based sensors possess extraordinary self-recovery capability and eminent synchronism between applied strains and output signals, which can contribute to the synergistic effect of the fast mobility of flexible polymer chains assigned by the flexible alkyl chains and the construction of an optimized energy dissipation mechanism endowed with molecular-scale dynamic interactions. Moreover, the obtained hydrogel-based sensors can detect mechanical strains and distinguish human motions with high sensitivity, stable electrical signal responsiveness, and good biocompatibility, and have potential applications as wearable sensors for human motion monitoring.