Biobased and recyclable hydrogel with pyramid microstructure for sustainable flexible sensors
摘要
The burgeoning fields of wearable devices, medical monitoring and human-motion detection have spurred strong interest in flexible sensors. However, the sustainable development and application of flexible sensors are still facing great challenges. Herein, a biobased and recyclable flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor was fabricated after the formation of sodium lignosulfonate (LS)/carboxylated cellulose nanocrystal (C-CNC)/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/Ca²⁺/glycerol (Gly) (LCP) hydrogel via a freeze-thaw strategy, followed by the construction of pyramid microstructure through a templating method. The LCP hydrogel exhibited outstanding conductivity (0.41 S m−1) and high mass retention rate above 95% after 12 h (25 °C, relative humidity 36%). The LCP hydrogel sensor showed high sensitivity (12.13 kPa−1 in 0-0.65 kPa and 0.61 kPa−1 in 0.65-53.25 kPa), short response/recovery time (122/285 ms) and excellent sensing stability (6500 loading-unloading cycles for 6.5 h, 0-45% strain). Importantly, the sensor can be quickly recycled by a simple heating-concentration procedure, which is advantageous for environmental protection and resource saving.