Extremely Fast Self-Healable Bio-Based Supramolecular Polymer for Wearable Real-Time Sweat-Monitoring Sensor

Abstract

Sensors with autonomous self-healing properties offer enhanced durability, reliability, and stability. Although numerous self-healing polymers have been attempted, achieving sensors with fast and reversible recovery under ambient conditions with high mechanical toughness remains challenging. Here, a highly sensitive wearable sensor made of a robust bio-based supramolecular polymer that is capable of self-healing via hydrogen bonding is presented. The integration of carbon fiber thread into a self-healing polymer matrix provides a new toolset that can easily be knitted into textile items to fabricate wearable sensors that show impressive self-healing efficiency (>97.0%) after 30 s at room temperature for K+/Na+ sensing. The wearable sweat-sensor system coupled with a wireless electronic circuit board capable of transferring data to a smart phone successfully monitors electrolyte ions in human perspiration noninvasively in real time, even in the healed state during indoor exercise. Our smart sensors represent an important advance toward futuristic personalized healthcare applications.