Multifunctional organogel strain sensor with high resilience, self-healing, adhesion, and anti-swelling properties for underwater applications

Wearable sensors based on gels have attracted considerable attention owing to their immense promise for applications in healthcare monitoring, electronic skins, and human-machine interfaces. However, it remains challenging to design multifunctional gel-based sensors that integrate resilience, self-healing, adhesion, anti-swelling, and reliable underwater sensing properties. In this work, a poly(lipoic acid- co -acrylic acid- co -tannic acid)/polyaniline (PLAT-P) organogel was developed via a facile one-pot radical copolymerization strategy. The resulting organogel exhibits high resilience (95% at 600% strain), outstanding self-healing efficiency (99% for 24 h), robust underwater adhesion (107 kPa on aluminum), and excellent anti-swelling performance (9.4% mass change after 28 d). The combination of dynamic disulfide bonds and abundant hydrogen bonds in organogel network contributes to the self-healing capability, while the incorporation of lipoic acid and tannic acid imparts robust adhesion even in underwater environments. Strain sensor based on the organogel demonstrates high sensitivity (gauge factor of 8.2), excellent cycling stability, and reliable repeatability. It can accurately monitor human motions across a wide strain range and also function as a dependable Morse code transmitter for underwater communication. This work offers a promising strategy for the wearable sensors in extreme conditions.