Silk Fibroin-Based Conductive Hydrogels for Flexible Electronic Devices

Conductive hydrogels show great application prospects in the field of flexible electronic devices. Silk fibroin (SF), as a natural protein, has become an ideal candidate for flexible electronic devices due to its outstanding biocompatibility, tunable biodegradability, and excellent mechanical properties. The utilization of biocompatible and biosustainable SF offers promising candidates as alternatives to conventional flexible electronic device materials, especially for the next generation of biocompatible and biodegradable electronic devices. This review summarizes the research progress of SF-based conductive hydrogels from structural design to flexible electronic device applications. This review provides a comprehensive overview for the fabrication strategy of SF-based conductive hydrogels by summarizing conductive design, structural engineering, and cross-linking methods. It further outlines the applications of SF-based conductive hydrogels in a variety of fields, including bioelectronics, capacitors, batteries, biosensors, and wearable sensors. Finally, the perspectives on the current challenges and future directions in the development of SF-based conductive hydrogel electronics are presented.