Rapid Self-healing Bio-based Hydrogels for Monitoring Human Motion

DOI: 10.14416/j.ind.tech.2023.04.003

Abstract

Conductive hydrogels are widely used as strain sensor in medical application for detecting human motion and personal health care monitoring. This research aims to develop a conductive hydrogel based on gluten/guar gum (GG) crosslinked by borax and tannic acid (TA). The effect of TA content (0-5 wt%) on the conductivity and self-healing ability of hydrogels was investigated. The presence of TA at 1.25-5 wt% in the hydrogel showed rapid and strong self-healing. The self-healing time decreased from 20 s to 3 s when TA content increased. The conductivity of hydrogels was observed in the range of 0.022-0.027 S/m. The human skin adhesion test revealed that the hydrogel containing 2.5 wt% TA could adhere to the skin and left no residue when the sample was removed. It can be suggested that the 2.5 wt% TA was a suitable content for hydrogel preparation. The hydrogel containing 2.5 wt% TA integrated smart functions such as self-healing and self-adhere which performed reproducibility and the stability of the signals during monitoring of human limbs movement. According to the results, the hydrogel containing borax and 2.5 wt% TA could be applied as a strain sensor for monitoring human health.