Self-healing strain sensors based on nanostructured supramolecular conductive elastomers

Abstract

Self-healing ability is an important feature of animal skin, which is highly desirable for next-generation wearable devices. However, the preparation of a material combining self-healing ability, and strain- and tactile-sensitivity, as well as good mechanical properties remains a great challenge. Herein, a new family of self-healing strain sensors from commercially available elastomers has been developed by the construction of a hierarchical nanostructure connected through thermally reversible ionic hydrogen bonds. The resulting materials show high mechanical strength (∼4–8 times that of previously reported self-healing conductive materials), appealing strain sensitivity and excellent self-healing properties. The healed samples maintain similar sensitivity for human motion monitoring even after bending over 10 000 times. This work opens up new opportunities for the design and scalable fabrication of self-healing materials and future wearable sensing devices.