High-strength, highly conductive and woven organic hydrogel fibers for flexible electronics

Abstract High conductivity, high strength and stretchability are important characteristics of flexible electronic materials. However, it is still a challenge that balancing the electrical conductivity and mechanical strength of materials. This paper proposes a simple method to embed hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel to form large pores that can adsorb ions. The conductivity of the hydrogel immersed in the sodium chloride solution can reach 5.77 S/m, and the strength can reach 2.86 MPa when the strain is 400.30%. Then the hydrogel is soaked in a sodium chloride glycerin aqueous solution to prepare PVA-HEC organic hydrogel (PHOH) with both high strength and high conductivity at −30 and 65 °C. In order to meet the requirements of multiple sensors in the future, we added temperature-sensitive particles into the system to prepare fibers, which are used as woven temperature-sensitive conductive materials. Finally, we prepared a green energy source triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) by the PHOH. This strategy is conducive to the self-powering, miniaturization and intelligence of flexible electronic materials.