Bioinspired UV-curable self-healing polysiloxane electronic skin with antibacterial surface for human motion detection

Self-healable and antibacterial electronic skins with the appropriate mechanical performance have paid great attention to the smart devices, health information storage and signal sensing. However, conventional electronic skins are susceptible to bacterial colonization and microbial adhesion, which poses additional health risks. Therefore, developing antibacterial elastic substrates with tailored morphological features is crucial for practical applications. Herein, a bioinspired photopolymerized self-healing antibacterial architecture is reported. Multifunctional trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) was integrated with acrylate-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-IU-MA) to fabricate a coral-like dendritic structure with particular convex wrinkles through sandpaper-mold templating, thereby imparting the antibacterial properties. With the increase in TMPTA content, the elastomer presents the progressive antibacterial abilities of inhibiting Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Staphylococcus aureus ( S. Aureus ) growth. Meanwhile, the introduction of multiple hydrogen bonds endows the elastomers with self-healing properties. Integrated with the flexible conductive circuit, a resistance-changed sensor with antibacterial and self-healing properties was developed for personalized motion monitoring, based on the PDMS-IU-MA elastomer. This work is expected to bring fresh horizons to the design of multifunctional sensing materials and establish the foundation for the development of antibacterial electronic skin. Graphical abstract