A gum Arabic-augmented hydrogel with high toughness, robust adhesion, and antibacterial efficacy for motion sensing...

Conductive hydrogels, which integrate mechanical robustness, reliable adhesion, and multimodal sensing capabilities, show great promise for wearable health monitoring. However, their development often faces the challenge of balancing mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and antimicrobial performance. To overcome the above mentioned limitations, this study developed a multifunctional hydrogel system based on polyacrylamide (PAM), gum arabic (GA), sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), and tannic acid (TA). This system employs a dynamic cross-linking strategy facilitated by hydrogen bonding and multi-component coordination among natural polymers and functional monomers. The incorporation of TA not only significantly enhances adhesion and antibacterial properties but also promotes the formation of conductive pathways within the polymer network. The resulting hydrogel exhibits outstanding mechanical performance, with an elongation at break exceeding 3055% and a tensile strength greater than 1.35 MPa, coupled with high strain sensitivity (gauge factor = 4.47), making it highly suitable for monitoring human joint movements. Furthermore, the hydrogel demonstrates excellent biocompatibility and potent antimicrobial activity. As a wearable sensor, it enables real-time and accurate detection of physiological motion signals such as joint flexion angles and provides quantitative feedback for rehabilitation training via resistance changes. This study offers a novel and scalable strategy for designing multifunctional hydrogels that integrate motion sensing and rehabilitation guidance, demonstrating broad potential for applications in smart rehabilitation medicine and remote training systems.