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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Construction of Modular Hydrogel Sheets for Micropatterned Macro-scaled 3D Cellular Architecture
Published on: January 11, 2016
A symbiotic skin hydrogel interface enabled by flexible hydrogel network with embedded enhancement structure
Jun Ma1,2, Mingxu Wang2, Yongfeng Wang2
1School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, PR China.
Abstract:
Wearable electrophysiological monitoring based on hydrogel electrodes is pivotal for decoding the body's "electrical language", yet fundamentally hampered by the unstable mechano-electrical interface between flexible electrodes and the skin caused by dehydration and poor breathability. Here, we demonstrate a symbiotic interface between an embedded-interfacial enhanced breathable conductive hydrogel network (BCHN) and skin for high-fidelity long-term electrophysiological monitoring. By embedding sodium chloride-containing polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel into an oxidized electrospun 3D porous polylactic acid skeleton, a BCHN with embedded enhanced interface featuring dense ion transport pathways and multiple water molecule-adsorbing sites is constructed. Upon application, the breathable (1.85 kg·m⁻²·day⁻¹, ~3× skin perspiration) flexible conductive hydrogel network with bending stiffness of ~10-10 N·m² seamlessly conforms to the microscopic landscape of the skin, forming a symbiotic BCHN-skin interface, which allows BCHN to "breathe" in harmony with the skin to preserve stable hydration and conductivity by dynamically balancing sweat capture, permeation, and evaporation, evidenced by a sustained 55 Ω impedance even at 20%RH. Integrated into a wearable monitoring system, the BCHN electrodes maintain high-quality signals (SNR > 25 dB) for over 30 days, thereby permitting the quantitative assessment and early warning of driver fatigue through long-term electroencephalography analysis.

