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3D Printing of PEDOT:PSS-PU-PAA Hydrogels with Excellent Mechanical and Electrical Performance for EMG Electrodes

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Intelligent Robotics and Applications (ICIRA 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 13456))

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Abstract

Bioelectronics has been developed for recording the electrophysiological activity of diagnostic and therapeutic devices. However, current bioelectrodes still imperfectly comply with tissues, which results in high interfacial impedance and even mechanical detachment. Herein, we report a simple yet effective approach to overcome such hurdles by designing a highly conductive, adhesive hydrogel composite based on freeze-dried poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), polyurethane (PU), and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). With the continuous phase-separation of PEDOT:PSS, PU, and PAA, the resultant composite hydrogels can simultaneously achieve high adhesion (lap-shear strength > 8 kPa), stretchability (fracture strain > 1100%), and electrical conductivity (conductivity > 2 S/m) by overcoming the traditional trade-off between mechanical and electrical properties in conducting polymer hydrogels. Moreover, such hydrogels are readily applicable to advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. We further fabricated skin electrodes and achieved high quality and high signal-to-noise ratio EMG signal recording of the forearm.

H. Ma, J. Hou, W. Xiong — Contribute equally to this work.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51963011), Technological Expertise and Academic Leaders Training Program of Jiangxi Province (20194BCJ22013), Training Program of Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund (20202ZDB01007), Jiangxi Provincial Double Thousand Talents Plan-Youth Program (JXSQ2019201108), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20202ACB214001), Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (20212BCD42004), the Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province (GJJ201101), the Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province (GJJ211141), Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University (2020XJZD006), and Jiangxi Science & Technology Normal University for the Provincial Postgraduate Innovation Program grants (YC2021-S754).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Key Lab of Flexible Electronics, Flexible Electronics Innovation Institute, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Hude Ma, Jingdan Hou, Wenhui Xiong, Zhilin Zhang, Fucheng Wang, Jie Cao, Peng Jiang, Hanjun Yang, Ximei Liu & Jingkun Xu

  2. School of Pharmacy, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Hude Ma, Jingdan Hou, Wenhui Xiong, Zhilin Zhang, Fucheng Wang, Hanjun Yang & Ximei Liu

  3. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Jingkun Xu

  4. Xi’an Physical Education University, Xi’an, 710068, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Jiang

Authors
  1. Hude Ma
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  2. Jingdan Hou
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  3. Wenhui Xiong
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  4. Zhilin Zhang
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  5. Fucheng Wang
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  6. Jie Cao
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  7. Peng Jiang
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  8. Hanjun Yang
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  9. Ximei Liu
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  10. Jingkun Xu
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Contributions

H.M. and X.L. proposed the concept and application of PEDOT:PSS-PU-PAA hydrogels. H.M. and W.X. developed the materials and methods for PEDOT:PSS-PU-PAA hydrogels. H.M., W.X., and J.H. performed the adhesion and conductivity tests. H.M. and J.H. performed the EMG experiments. H.M. analyzed the EMG data. H.M., J.H., and X.L. prepared Figures. H.M., J.H., W.X., F.W., and X.L. analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. J.X., P.J., and X.L. provided funding to support experiments. X.L. and J.X. supervised the work and provided critical feedback on the development of design strategy, device fabrication, data interpretation, application, and critical revision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ximei Liu or Jingkun Xu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Honghai Liu

  2. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Zhouping Yin

  3. Shenyang Institute of Automation, Shenyang, Liaoning, China

    Lianqing Liu

  4. Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Li Jiang

  5. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Guoying Gu

  6. Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Xinyu Wu

  7. Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Weihong Ren

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Ma, H. et al. (2022). 3D Printing of PEDOT:PSS-PU-PAA Hydrogels with Excellent Mechanical and Electrical Performance for EMG Electrodes. In: Liu, H., et al. Intelligent Robotics and Applications. ICIRA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13456. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13822-5_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13822-5_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-13821-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-13822-5

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