Wearable Hydrogels for Personal Protection Applications

Abstract

As the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies have advanced, wearable technology has attracted significant attention from academia and industry. Hydrogel has already received much attention as an emerging candidate material for wearable devices due to its unique 3D network structure, excellent biocompatibility, and soft stretchability. It is aimed here to provide a comprehensive overview of the development of hydrogels for wearable applications. Here, the synthetic methods currently employed in wearable hydrogels are reviewed first, including physical crosslinking, chemical crosslinking, and multiple crosslinking. Then, strategies for optimizing the performance of wearable hydrogels are summarized from the perspectives of mechanical properties, electrical properties, thermal properties, and other characteristics such as biocompatibility, self-healing, and self-adhesion. The final section discusses the latest advances in the application of wearable hydrogels in personal protection, and the current shortcomings and challenges. Here, it is aimed to provide innovative insights for further development in this field by summarizing the current research hotspots and cutting-edge issues in wearable hydrogels.

Keywords: health care; human–machine interaction; personal thermal management; signal monitoring; wearable hydrogel.