Patterned AgNWs-GelMA Conductive Hydrogels Enabled by Chemical Welding for Flexible Biosensing

Conductive hydrogels, owing to their flexibility, high biocompatibility, tissue-mimetic properties, and electrical responsiveness, hold broad application prospects in fields such as flexible biosensing, wearable electronics, and health monitoring. However, constructing continuous and stable conductive pathways while maintaining biocompatibility and mechanical stability remains a key challenge in the design of such materials. In this study, we combined template casting with a chemical welding strategy to fabricate patterned AgNWs-GelMA conductive hydrogels. The results indicate that chemical welding effectively improves the connection quality at AgNWs intersections, increasing the electrical conductivity of the samples by at least 67% under identical conditions. Furthermore, the conductive hydrogel exhibited good biocompatibility. Flexible sensors constructed from this material generated stable electrical responses to external stimuli, such as pressure and joint motion. Under a constant cyclic pressure of 0.2   N, the sensors exhibited a rapid total response and recovery time of 200 ms, demonstrating their potential for flexible biosensing applications, particularly under conditions of small deformation. Download: Download high-res image (202KB) Download: Download full-size image