One-Pot Synthesis of Organic–Inorganic Network Hydrogels with High Extensibility, Self-Healing, Self-Adhesive, 3D-Printing, and Antibacterial Properties

Recently, conductive hydrogels have shown promising applications in flexible electronic devices, artificial intelligence, and medical diagnostics. However, the preparation strategy of hydrogel-based sensors was tedious and costly, and they lack some important properties such as self-healing, self-adhesive, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and antibacterial properties. In this paper, a general and simple method is proposed to obtain a multifunctional wearable sensor ACBt/P(AA-MA) hydrogel with an organic–inorganic network. The ACBt/P(AA-MA) hydrogel prepared by alkaline calcium bentonite (ACBt), acrylic acid (AA), and maleic acid (MA) by a one-pot method showed excellent tensile strength (0.43 MPa), stretchability (1258%), self-healing, gage factor (GF = 7.87), repeatability, self-adhesive, 3D printing, and antibacterial properties. Furthermore, the highly sensitive wearing sensing ACBt/P(AA-MA) hydrogel could accurately and real-time monitor various intense or subtle human movements such as joint bending and face and throat vibration. The ACBt/P(AA-MA) hydrogel can also be used for handwritten recognition of Arabic numerals and English letters as well as monitoring real-time temperature changes and human sweating. Furthermore, ACBt/P(AA-MA) exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This innovative research provides inspiration for the design of low-cost, multifunctional wearable hydrogel sensors and also expands the potential in the application of electronic skin and wearable devices.