Peach gum polysaccharide/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels with dynamic boronate crosslinking for multimodal flexible sensing

One-step copolymerization yields a peach gum polysaccharide/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogel with dual physicochemical semi-IPN. • The hydrogel has high tensile strength (254.5 kPa), ultrahigh stretchability (2317.7%), and 86.9% efficient self-healing. • PBA-IL served as an ionic conductor, dynamic crosslinker, and antibacterial component with > 99% antibacterial activity. • Stable ionic conduction and dual strain/temperature sensing are achieved over −20–60 ℃ for wearable health monitoring. • The hydrogel enabled electrophysiological signal acquisition and ML‑assisted hand gesture recognition (98% accuracy). Ionically conductive hydrogels (ICHs) based on natural bioresources are promising candidates for flexible electronics owing to their sustainability and biocompatibility. However, integrating mechanical robustness, high ionic conductivity, environmental tolerance, self-healing, antibacterial functionality, and practical multimodal sensing into a single polysaccharide-based hydrogel remains challenging. Herein, a peach gum polysaccharide/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogel (PAM/PBA-IL/PGP) is fabricated via a one-step copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) and a phenylboronic acid ionic liquid (PBA-IL) in the presence of peach gum polysaccharide (PGP). The hydrogel features a semi-interpenetrating architecture in which PGP chains are dynamically anchored to a covalent poly(AM-co-PBA-IL) network through reversible boronate ester bonds, together with hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions, yielding a dual physicochemical crosslinked network. As a result, the hydrogel combines high tensile strength (254.5 kPa), ultrahigh stretchability (2317.7%), high ionic conductivity (3.46 mS cm −1 ), excellent self-healing efficiency (86.9%), and robust antibacterial activity (>99% inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli ), while maintaining stable strain- and temperature-sensing performance from −20–60 ℃. Benefiting from its interfacial adaptability and stable ionic conduction, the hydrogel functions as a flexible multimodal sensor capable of monitoring joint motions and subtle physiological activities, as well as body temperature and fever-related variations. In addition, it serves as a soft bioelectrode for electrophysiological signal acquisition. The hydrogel-based sensing system also supports machine-learning-assisted hand-gesture recognition with an accuracy of approximately 98% and enables real-time wireless control of a robotic hand. These results highlight PAM/PBA-IL/PGP as a versatile platform for next-generation hydrogel-based wearable sensing and bioelectronic interfaces. A synergistic network integrating dynamic boronate ester bonding, together with covalent crosslinking, and multiple noncovalent interactions enables peach gum polysaccharide/poly(ionic liquid) hydrogels with high mechanical robustness, stable ionic conductivity, and environmental stability for multifunctional flexible sensing. Download: Download high-res image (238KB) Download: Download full-size image