Liquid Metal@Silk Fibroin Peptide Particles Initiated Hydrogels with High Toughness, Adhesion, and Conductivity for Portable and Continuous Electrophysiological Monitoring

Xueling Yan, Zelin Liu, Yubing Fu, Xinyu Chen, Siyu Gan, Wenwei Yang, Song Chen*, Lan Liu*

Abstract

Hydrogel-based electrodes are widely used in electrophysiological monitoring for personal disease prevention and home-based healthcare. However, limited by the hydrogels’ low toughness, poor adhesion, and weak electrical stability, motion artifacts and device detachments are inevitable after long-term, continuous electrophysiological monitoring. Herein, novel liquid metal@silk fibroin peptide (LM@SF) core-shell particles, in which the shell SF not only facilitates the core LM's dispersion but also stabilizes the free radicals, are designed to initiate the in situ formation of hydrogel while simultaneously enhancing its toughness, adhesion, and conductivity. As applied in electrophysiological monitoring, the hydrogel can maintain both a stable physical interface and electrical transmission to the skin, thus promoting the signal acquisition quality obviously even during exercise and long-term wearing. At last, a portable flexible monitoring patch with small volume (70 × 35 × 2 mm) and light weight (7 g) is developed to achieve continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring via wireless transmission, demonstrating its high potentials in telemedicine.

文章链接：

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202420240