Highly Tough, Self‐Adhesive, and Antimicrobial Conductive Hydrogels for Flexible Wearable Sensor Devices and Information Encryption

ABSTRACT Due to their biocompatibility and tissue‐like properties, conductive hydrogels have garnered significant attention in advanced applications, particularly in wearable strain sensors. Unfortunately, their real‐world deployment is limited by several common hurdles: inadequate mechanical strength, poor adhesive performance at interfaces, absence of antimicrobial effects, and the struggle to achieve a balance between superior mechanical behavior and high electrical conductivity. In the present research, we successfully created a multifunctional hydrogel sensor made up of acrylic acid (AA), tannic acid (TA), and phytic acid (PA). This hydrogel product showed excellent mechanical attributes, conductive ability, adhesive property, antibacterial function, and strain‐sensitive performance. What is noteworthy is that this strain sensor is capable of detecting tiny deformations within the range of 1%–4%. The strain sensors manufactured in this study display wide‐ranging applicability and high dependability when used for monitoring human movements. They can accurately track not only large‐scale motions like the bending of joints (for instance, wrists and knees) but also small, subtle movements such as chewing and swallowing.