Highly Stretchable, Self-Healable and Self-Adhesive Double-Network Eutectogel Based on Gellan Gum and Polymerizable Deep Eutectic Solvent for Strain Sensing

Recently, eutectogels have gained significant attention as promising materials for wearable devices. However, developing eutectogels with integrated stretchability, good toughness, self-healing, and self-adhesive properties through non-covalent scaffold assembly is a major challenge. In this study, a fully physically crosslinked double-network (DN) eutectogel was fabricated by exploiting the high solubility and gelation of gellan gum in a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to form the first physically crosslinked network and combining it with supramolecular poly (2-hydroxyethyl acrylate-choline chloride, HEA-ChCl). The resulting gel showed high stretchability (1835 %), toughness (7.65 MJ m(-3)), desirable ionic conductivity (0.41 mS cm(-1)), adhesion, and high transparency. Assembling the gel into strain sensors allows precise monitoring of human motion (finger, wrist, elbow, and knee). The results of this study suggest that gellan gum/poly (ChCl-HEA) DN eutectogels have significant potential as highly sensitive and reliable strain sensors for wearable technology applications.