A Fully Biodegradable and Biocompatible Ionotronic Skin for Transient Electronics

Abstract

Wearable electronics have impacted many aspects of human life including health monitoring, disease diagnosis, and human‐machine interfacing. However, the rapid development also accelerates the generation of electronic waste (e‐waste), which is threatening the health of ecological systems. Accordingly, high‐performance biodegradable materials suitable for transient electronics are highly demanded and challenging. In this work, a fully biodegradable and biocompatible ionotronic skin is designed based on double‐network natural polyelectrolytes derivatives. It consists of carboxylated chitosan (CCS) and sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) polymerized in glycerol and water followed by cross‐linking with hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attraction (namely SBMAX‐CCSY‐Glyz). By macromolecular engineering, the ionotronic skin exhibits high ionic conductivity, good compliance with skin, as well as complete degradability, which is capable of transient measurement of electrophysiology. Applied on the sciatic nerve of bullfrog, it can accurately record action potentials and fully degrade in only 3 days without any residue. Such biodegradable and biocompatible ionotronic skin will shed light on the design of ionotronic materials for future transient electronics.

Multifunctional, Degradable Wearable Sensors Prepared with an Initiator and Crosslinker-Free Method

“…Typically, the degradation of hydrogel occurs due to the degradation of the polymeric backbone or cleavage of its cross-linking chemical bonds . Although physically cross-linked hydrogels have been extensively studied and considered a preferred choice, they still face challenges such as inefficient degradation rate (>3 days) and an acidic environment. − To demonstrate the degradability of the PEG@PSBMA IPN hydrogel-based sensor, a piece of S 2 hydrogel was immersed in a saline solution (0.9 wt % NaCl), simulating the humoral environment. Remarkably, the S 2 hydrogel underwent almost complete degradation within 8 h at RT (Figure a).…”

A Stretchable and Sweat-Adhesive 3D Graphene Eutectogel Electrode for EMG Monitoring

“…The eutectogel has excellent electrical conductivity, coupling with the electronic current of graphene foam. It is beneficial to electrode–skin charge transfer, improving the charge density on skin . Consequently, the impedance of PDFSCGF is significantly lower than that of the other two.…”

Memristor based electronic devices towards biomedical applications

“…73–75 Natural biological materials are gifts from nature, and their utilization in the preparation and research of natural bio-memristors, such as soybeans, silk, and leaves, holds immense potential for applications in the manufacturing of implantable electronic devices and medical materials. 76–80 The memristor devices hold significant potential applications in the field of biomedicine, simultaneously laying the foundation for the development of implantable neural systems.…”