A collaborative paper with Dr. Tian Li’s lab at Purdue University is published in the Journal Cell Reports Physical Science as below:
Conductive hollow hydrogel fibers toward high-sensitivity bio-textiles
Pengfei Deng, Zijian He, Yingnan Shen, Noor Mohammad Mohammad, Wenhui Xu, Bumsoo Han and Tian Li
Abstract
Conductive hydrogels are becoming valuable in creating soft, flexible interfaces for biological tissue sensing due to their bio-compatibility and tissue-like mechanical properties. However, when tailored to epidermal sensors, they face low breathability and sensitivity issues, impacting long-term comfort and functionality. Addressing these issues, here we report sensing textiles from hollow conductive hydrogel fibers using co-axial microfluidic printing, allowing precise control of hollow channel diameters. The mesh-like textile demonstrates a sensitivity of 4.69 kPa−1, significantly outperforming the solid-structured counterparts (0.77 kPa−1). Moreover, the bio-textile demonstrates bio-compatibility, exhibiting no significant cytotoxic effects on human dermal fibroblasts after 3 days. To enhance durability and reusability, we integrate conductive fibers with metal wires for energy harvesting, achieving an open-circuit voltage output of ∼0.74 V. Notably, the voltage remains at ∼0.53 V even after dehydration. The high sensitivity, softness, and flexibility make our bio-textile a promising candidate for multifunctional sensing and energy harvesting in bio-interface devices.