Skin-Like Transparent, High Resilience, Low Hysteresis, Fatigue-Resistant Cellulose-Based Eutectogel for Self-Powered E-Skin and Human–Machine Interaction

Abstract

Artificial electronic skin (E-skin), a class of promising materials mimicking the physical-chemical and sensory performance of the human skin, has gained extensive interest in the field of human health-monitoring and robotic skins. However, developing E-skin simultaneously achieving high resilience, hysteresis-free, and absent external power is always a formidable challenge. Herein, a liquid-free eutectic gel-based self-powered E-skin with high resilience, fatigue resistance, and conductivity is prepared by introducing hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) into metal salt-based deep eutectic solvents (MDES). The unique structural design of cellulose-anchored permanent entangled poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) chain, in combination with rapid broken/reconstruction of the dense dynamic sacrificial bonds, realizes the fabrication of high-elastic E-skin with negligible hysteresis. This further demonstrates the promising practical application of the cellulose-based eutectogel with high transmittance (92%), high conductivity (36.6 mS m−1), and high resilience (98.1%), and excellent environment stability in robust triboelectric nanogenerator for energy harvesting and high resilience, self-powered E-skin for human health-caring and human-machine interaction.