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Gels
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Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics
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Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 11954

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zihui Meng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 10081, China
Interests: photonic crystal hydrogels; wearable intelligent sensing; energetic materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lili Qiu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 10081, China
Interests: photonic crystal hydrogels; wearable intelligent sensing; energetic materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A hydrogel is a network system of polymers with a hydrophilic three-dimensional network cross-linked structure which can maintain a certain shape and absorb a large amount of water. Hydrogels have good biocompatibility and biodegradability, so these materials are widely used in drug delivery, tissue regeneration and other fields thanks to their excellent properties, making an indelible contribution to the development of biomedicine. Soft and stretchable materials based on hydrogels have skin/tissue-like mechanical properties, providing new avenues for the design and manufacture of wearable devices and flexible electronics. Hydrogels have mechanical and physiological properties similar to those of various organs in the human body, and have both electrical, mechanical, and biological functions which are controllable and diverse, making these materials one of the most ideal carriers of human–machine interfaces. Using bio-hydrogels as encapsulation materials, the development of fully degradable, implantable hydrogel-based flexible electronics in the human body will be a promising development direction. Although hydrogel-based flexible electronic devices have developed rapidly, many problems remain unresolved, such as adhesion of the hydrogel interface, hydrogel dehydration, and processing. We believe that it is time to re-examine the application of gels in flexible electronic devices to enable new developments and application directions for hydrogels. We look forward to submissions reporting new results on gel-based devices and flexible electronics, and welcome the submission of both theoretical and experimental studies.

Prof. Dr. Zihui Meng
Prof. Dr. Lili Qiu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydrogel
  • human–machine interface
  • gel-based devices
  • flexible electronics

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 5329 KiB  
Article
Facile Enhancement of Electrochemical Performance of Solid-State Supercapacitor via Atmospheric Plasma Treatment on PVA-Based Gel-Polymer Electrolyte
by Dong-Hyun Kim, Suk Jekal, Chan-Gyo Kim, Yeon-Ryong Chu, Jungchul Noh, Min Sang Kim, Neunghi Lee, Woo-Jin Song and Chang-Min Yoon
Gels 2023, 9(4), 351; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9040351 - 21 Apr 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3280
Abstract
A facile oxygen (O2) atmospheric plasma treatment is applied to a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix to enhance its wettability and hydrophilicity. The optimal plasma treatment conditions are determined by varying the applied plasma power and plasma treatment time. A PVA matrix [...] Read more.
A facile oxygen (O2) atmospheric plasma treatment is applied to a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix to enhance its wettability and hydrophilicity. The optimal plasma treatment conditions are determined by varying the applied plasma power and plasma treatment time. A PVA matrix treated with a plasma power of 120 W for 5 s shows the most hydrophilicity owing to successful formation of carbonyl (–CO, >C=O) functional groups without any structural degradation. The plasma-treated PVA matrix is used as the gel-polymer electrolyte of a solid-state supercapacitor (SSC) by immersing solid matrix into various liquid electrolytes, such as sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and potassium hydroxide (KOH). Compared with the pristine PVA-based device, PVA-120W5/Na2SO4-, PVA-120W5/H2SO4-, and PVA-120W5/KOH-based SSCs show 2.03, 2.05, and 2.14 times higher specific capacitances, respectively. The plasma-treated PVA matrix shows increased specific capacitance owing to the increased wettability, which in turn increases the ion transportation and reduces the electrical resistance. This study successfully demonstrates that the electrochemical performance of a SSC can be readily enhanced through plasma treatment for a short time (≤5 s). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics)
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17 pages, 3451 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of Flexible All-Solid-State Asymmetric Supercapacitor Device via Full Recycling of Heated Tobacco Waste Assisted by PLA Gelation Template Method
by Suk Jekal, Min-Sang Kim, Dong-Hyun Kim, Jungchul Noh, Ha-Yeong Kim, Jiwon Kim, Hyeonseok Yi, Won-Chun Oh and Chang-Min Yoon
Gels 2023, 9(2), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9020097 - 23 Jan 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3039
Abstract
In this study, a flexible all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (FASC) device has been successfully fabricated via full recycling of heated tobacco waste (HTW). Tobacco leaves and cellulose acetate tubes have been successfully carbonized (HTW-C) and mixed with metal oxides (MnO2 and Fe3 [...] Read more.
In this study, a flexible all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor (FASC) device has been successfully fabricated via full recycling of heated tobacco waste (HTW). Tobacco leaves and cellulose acetate tubes have been successfully carbonized (HTW-C) and mixed with metal oxides (MnO2 and Fe3O4) to obtain highly active materials for supercapacitors. Moreover, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) filters have been successfully dissolved in an organic solvent and mixed with the as-prepared active materials using a simple paste mixing method. In addition, flexible MnO2- and Fe3O4-mixed HTW-C/PLA electrodes (C-MnO2/PLA and C-Fe3O4/PLA) have been successfully fabricated using the drop-casting method. The as-synthesized flexible C-MnO2/PLA and C-Fe3O4/PLA electrodes have exhibited excellent electrical conductivity of 378 and 660 μS cm−1, and high specific capacitance of 34.8 and 47.9 mF cm−2 at 1 mA cm−2, respectively. A practical FASC device (C-MnO2/PLA//C-Fe3O4/PLA) has been assembled by employing the C-MnO2/PLA as the positive electrode and C-Fe3O4/PLA as the negative electrode. The as-prepared FASC device showed a remarkable capacitance of 5.80 mF cm−2 at 1 mA cm−2. Additionally, the FASC device manifests stable electrochemical performance under harsh bending conditions, verifying the superb flexibility and sustainability of the device. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report complete recycling of heated tobacco waste to prepare the practical FASC devices. With excellent electrochemical performance, the experiments described in this study successfully demonstrate the possibility of recycling new types of biomass in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics)
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13 pages, 4543 KiB  
Article
Specific Alcohol-Responsive Photonic Crystal Sensors Based on Host-Guest Recognition
by Xiaolu Cai, Xiaojing Zhang, Jing Fan, Wenxiang Zheng, Tianyi Zhang, Lili Qiu and Zihui Meng
Gels 2023, 9(2), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9020083 - 18 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1918
Abstract
A photonic crystal material based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with adsorption capacity is reported. The materials ((A-β-CD)-AM PC) consist of 3D poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal microsphere arrays and hydrogels supplemented with β-cyclodextrin modified by acryloyl chloride. The prepared materials are then utilized for [...] Read more.
A photonic crystal material based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with adsorption capacity is reported. The materials ((A-β-CD)-AM PC) consist of 3D poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal microsphere arrays and hydrogels supplemented with β-cyclodextrin modified by acryloyl chloride. The prepared materials are then utilized for VOCs gas sensing. The 3D O-(A-β-CD)-AM PC was used to detect toluene, xylene, and acetone and the response was seen as the red-shift of the reflection peak. The 3D I-(A-β-CD)-AM PC was used to detect toluene, xylene, and acetone which occurred redshifted, while methanol, ethanol, and propanol and the peaks’ red-shifting was observed. However, among these, methanol gave the largest red-shift response The sensor has broad prospects in the detection of alcohol and the detection of alcohol-loaded drug releases in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics)
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Review

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18 pages, 3958 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances and Progress of Conducting Polymer-Based Hydrogels in Strain Sensor Applications
by Vinh Van Tran, Kyungjun Lee, Thanh Ngoc Nguyen and Daeho Lee
Gels 2023, 9(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9010012 - 25 Dec 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3236
Abstract
Conducting polymer-based hydrogels (CPHs) are novel materials that take advantage of both conducting polymers and three-dimensional hydrogels, which endow them with great electrical properties and excellent mechanical features. Therefore, CPHs are considered as one of the most promising platforms for employing wearable and [...] Read more.
Conducting polymer-based hydrogels (CPHs) are novel materials that take advantage of both conducting polymers and three-dimensional hydrogels, which endow them with great electrical properties and excellent mechanical features. Therefore, CPHs are considered as one of the most promising platforms for employing wearable and stretchable strain sensors in practical applications. Herein, we provide a critical review of distinct features and preparation technologies and the advancements in CPH-based strain sensors for human motion and health monitoring applications. The fundamentals, working mechanisms, and requirements for the design of CPH-based strain sensors with high performance are also summarized and discussed. Moreover, the recent progress and development strategies for the implementation of CPH-based strain sensors are pointed out and described. It has been surmised that electronic skin (e-skin) sensors are the upward tendency in the development of CPHs for wearable strain sensors and human health monitoring. This review will be important scientific evidence to formulate new approaches for the development of CPH-based strain sensors in the present and in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Gel-Based Devices and Flexible Electronics)
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