Key Takeaways & Executive Findings
- •• • Fatigue resistance: No significant mechanical degradation after 10,000 cycles at 200% strain, eliminating hysteresis. This addresses the primary failure mode of hydrogel fibers in wearable applications, where repeated body movements previously caused premature fracture and signal drift. • • Strain sensing performance: Gauge factor ~3.0, response time 140 ms, recovery time 130 ms, and repeatability over 10,000 cycles at 70% strain. These metrics meet the requirements for real-time motion detection and long-term monitoring in smart textiles, with response/recovery speeds suitable for capturing human kinematics. • • Environmental stability: The OHEF exhibits remarkable resistance to dehydration and freezing, extending operational lifetime in ambient conditions and enabling use in cold environments where conventional hydrogels fail due to water evaporation or ice crystallization. • • Multi-sensing capabilities: Smart textiles based on OHEF detect deformation, temperature, proximity, and pressure, and perform passive sensing. This multifunctionality reduces the need for multiple discrete sensors, simplifying system integration and lowering manufacturing complexity for wearable devices.
Abstract
Hydrogel-based one-dimensional fibers offer a route to smart textiles, yet cyclic deformation fractures low-energy amorphous crosslinks, causing fatigue and hysteresis that degrade mechanical performance. This study integrates an Ecoflex elastomer backbone into an organic hydrogel to fabricate composite fibers (OHEF) with enhanced fatigue resistance and eliminated hysteresis. After 10,000 cycles at 200% strain, mechanical properties show no significant degradation. The strain sensor exhibits a gauge factor of ~3.0, response time of 140 ms, recovery time of 130 ms, and repeatability over 10,000 cycles at 70% strain. The OHEF also resists dehydration and freezing, enabling smart textiles that detect deformation, temperature, proximity, and pressure, and perform passive sensing via triboelectric nanogenerator principles. These results demonstrate a viable path for durable, multi-sensing hydrogel fibers in wearable electronics.
1. Introduction
Textiles serve as the interface between the human body and the external environment. Compared with film-based electronic skins, textile-based electronics offer superior flexibility, breathability, and comfort, opening new avenues for wearable devices. Integrating sensory functions into textiles can revolutionize human–device interaction by enabling intelligent feedback through sensing of external environments and physiological signals. Fibers are the basic components of textiles, and researchers have developed smart fibers with functions such as response, detection, feedback, and regulation. Conductive smart fibers are typically fabricated by embedding rigid substances or nanomaterials into elastomers, but this approach suffers from insufficient robustness and biocompatibility, restricting wide application.
Hydrogels are crucial for flexible ionic electronics due to their intrinsic ionic conductivity, conductive flexibility, and biocompatibility. They are applied in tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomedical devices, microfluidics, optics, stretchable electronics, and soft robotics. Cellulose-based hydrogels show potential for intelligent sensors. However, during repeated deformations, the fracture of low-energy amorphous crosslinking structures in hydrogels leads to fatigue and hysteresis, severely impairing mechanical properties and limiting applications. This study addresses this bottleneck by integrating an Ecoflex elastomer backbone into an organic hydrogel, creating composite fibers that resist fatigue, eliminate hysteresis, and retain mechanical integrity after 10,000 cycles at 200% strain, while adding multi-sensing capabilities.
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SHEN Jiaxin, FENG Tao, LI Chen, HOU Shisheng, YIN Kuibo, BI Hengchang, SUN Litao (2025). Highly Robust and Fatigue-Resistant Organic Hydrogel Composite Elastomer Fibers with Multi-Sensing Capabilities. SCIENCE CHINA Materials. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-025-3580-0
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the failure mechanism under repeated stress, and how does the Ecoflex backbone prevent it?
Conventional hydrogel fibers fail due to fracture of low-energy amorphous crosslinking structures during cyclic deformation, causing fatigue and hysteresis. The Ecoflex elastomer backbone provides a resilient network that distributes stress and prevents crosslink rupture. After 10,000 cycles at 200% strain, no significant degradation of mechanical properties is observed, confirming that the backbone mitigates fatigue.
What are the response and recovery times, and how do they compare to existing strain sensors?
The strain sensor based on OHEF exhibits a response time of 140 ms and a recovery time of 130 ms. These values are competitive with commercial strain gauges and faster than many hydrogel-based sensors, enabling real-time monitoring of human motion and external stimuli.
How does the OHEF perform under repeated strain cycles, and what is the gauge factor?
The gauge factor is ~3.0, and the sensor maintains excellent repeatability over 10,000 cycles at 70% strain. This high cycle life and stable sensitivity are critical for long-term wearable applications, where signal drift and mechanical failure are common issues.
What environmental stability does the OHEF offer, and what are the operational limits?
The OHEF exhibits remarkable resistance to dehydration and freezing. This extends its operational lifetime in ambient conditions and allows use in cold environments. While exact temperature thresholds are not specified in the provided text, the resistance to freezing implies functionality below 0°C, and dehydration resistance suggests retention of ionic conductivity over extended periods.
What sensing modalities are integrated, and how does passive sensing work?
The OHEF-based smart textiles detect deformation, temperature, proximity, and pressure. Passive sensing is achieved via triboelectric nanogenerator principles, where mechanical stimuli generate electrical signals without external power. This multifunctionality reduces the need for multiple sensors and simplifies system integration.
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