Breathable, Nanonet-Reinforced Ultrathin Ionogel Film via Hydrogen Bonding-Ion Dipole Synergy for Multifunctional Wearable Sensors

Yeqing Xu, Xin Jing*, Peiyong Feng, Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari, Yuejun Liu, Fuxiang Liu, Shitao Li, Hao-Yang Mi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Ionogels have emerged as highly promising materials for flexible electronic skin (e-skin) due to their exceptional electrical conductivity, high stability, and biocompatibility. Nevertheless, reconciling breathability with skin conformability while maintaining mechanical integrity remains a critical challenge in the development of ionogels. Herein, a hydrogen bonding and ion-dipole synergy strategy is proposed to prepare a nanonet-reinforced ultrathin ionogel film (UIF) with a thickness of only 12 µm, yet exhibiting outstanding multifunctional performance, including a remarkable sensitivity (gauge factor of 2.37), outstanding environmental resilience (−40 to 60 °C), an extensive strain response range (0–483%), and exceptional fatigue resistance. Furthermore, its superior gas permeability (2464.4 g·m−1·day−1) significantly enhances epidermal breathability, addressing a key limitation of conventional wearable materials. Moreover, when integrated into flexible wearable devices, the UIF ensures optimal skin adherence and user comfort, setting a new benchmark for wearable technology. By leveraging a supervised machine learning algorithm, such as an artificial neural network (ANN), the system achieves an impressive 96.6% accuracy in real-time analysis of human knee motion signals, enabling continuous, high-precision motion tracking. This advanced ionogel not only paves the way for next-generation flexible e-skins with high conformability but also holds great potential in smart medicine and human-machine interaction.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere17882
Number of pages12
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Early online date24 Aug 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 24 Aug 2025

Bibliographical note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Y. Xu, X. Jing, P. Feng, et al. “ Breathable, Nanonet-Reinforced Ultrathin Ionogel Film via Hydrogen Bonding-Ion Dipole Synergy for Multifunctional Wearable Sensors.” Adv. Funct. Mater. (2025): e17882, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202517882.  This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

Keywords

  • flexible electronic skin
  • gas permeability
  • hydrogen bonding-ion dipole synergy
  • machine learning
  • ultrathin ionogel film

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