Self-healing hydrogels

Polymer chemistry

Polymerization

Catalysis

Physical chemistry

Engineering

Composite material

Chemical engineering

Polymer

Photopolymer

Ionic liquid

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Electronics

Chemistry

Materials science

Small

A simple and effective approach is demonstrated to fabricate tough metallosupramolecular hydrogel films of poly(acrylic acid) by one‐pot photopolymerization of the precursor solution in the presence of Zr 4+ ions that form coordination complexes with the carboxyl groups and serve as the physical crosslinks of the matrix. Both as‐prepared and equilibrated hydrogel films are transparent, tough, and stable over a wide range of temperature, ionic strength, and pH. The thickness of the films can be easily tailored with minimum value of ≈7 μm. Owing to the fast polymerization and gelation process, kirigami structures can be facilely encoded to the gel films by photolithographic polymerization, affording versatile functions such as additional stretchability and better compliance of the planar films to encapsulate objects with sophisticated geometries that are important for the design of soft electronics. By stencil printing of liquid metal on the hydrogel film with a kirigami structure, the integrated soft electroni...

Engineering Tough Metallosupramolecular Hydrogel Films with Kirigami Structures for Compliant Soft Electronics