Tough, anti-freezing and conductive ionic hydrogels

This paper introduces a novel strategy for creating tough, anti-freezing, and conductive ionic hydrogels using potassium acetate (KAc). The KAc induces a salting-out effect on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), enhancing the hydrogel's mechanical properties. Concentrated KAc solutions also exhibit excellent anti-freezing capacity and high conductivity. The resulting hydrogels demonstrate a tensile strength of 8.2 MPa, conductivity of 8.0 S/m, and freeze tolerance down to -60 °C. This method is also effective with other polymers like poly(acrylamide) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate). The hydrogels also display excellent anti-dehydration properties.

Shuwang Wu, Ta-Wei Wang, Yingjie Du, Bowen Yao, Sidi Duan, Yichen Yan, Mutian Hua, Yousif Alsaid, Xinyuan Zhu, Ximin He