Synthesis and Characterization of Thermo-Reversible Conductive Hydrogel Toward Smart Electrodes

Abstract

A novel hybrid hydrogel that can be electrically conductive, thermally reversible, and mechanically patternable is presented in this article. This hybrid gel is synthesized by the sequential steps of polymerization of pyrrole and gelation of agarose. Depending on the relative concentration of each constituent of the hybrid gel, its electrical and thermal behavior changes significantly. In addition, the type of solvent medium that comprises the hybrid gel in the hydrate state highly affects the thermally reversible gelation behavior. Finally, we demonstrate various patterning techniques including nozzle printing, screen printing, and wet spinning for the fabrication of the patterned hybrid gel electrode. This proposed conductive gel will present many new possibilities for biological applications such as electronic skins, biomimetic devices, artificial muscles, neural electrodes, biocompatible redox switches, and stimuli responsive polymeric materials.