An Electrically and Mechanically Autonomic Self-healing Hybrid Hydrogel with Tough and Thermoplastic Properties

Conductive
hydrogels are a class of composite materials that usually comprise
hydrated polymers and conductive materials. Practical application
requires the conductive hydrogels to have various properties such
as high conductivity, toughness, self-healing, facile processing ability,
and so on. Although challenging to have all the above-mentioned properties,
a composite material composed of polymer hydrogel with embedded Au
nanoparticles (i.e., P­(NaSS)/P­(VBIm-Cl)/PVA@Au) was found to show
the comprehensive properties above in this paper. For example, P­(NaSS)/P­(VBIm-Cl)/PVA@Au
exhibits mechanical and electrical self-healing properties at ambient
conditions. In addition, P­(NaSS)/P­(VBIm-Cl)/PVA@Au is tough and thermoplastic,
potentially making it useful for a variety of applications.