A research team led by Professor Bian Jing from Beijing Forestry University's College of Material Science and Technology has pioneered a sustainable eutectogel production method, featured as a cover paper titled "Conductive eutectogels fabricated by dialdehyde xylan/liquid metal-initiated rapid polymerization for multi-response sensors and self-powered applications" in ACS Nano (IF=15.8). This innovation transforms industrial xylan byproducts into high-performance flexible electronics materials through green manufacturing processes.

Conductive eutectogels have emerged as candidates for constructing functional flexible electronics as they are free from the constraints posed by inherent defects associated with solvents and feeble network structures. Nevertheless, developing a facile, environmentally friendly, and rapid polymerization strategy for the construction of conductive eutectogels with integrated multifunctionality is still immensely challenging. 

Herein, a conductive eutectogel is fabricated through a one-step dialdehyde xylan (DAX)/liquid metal (LM)-initiated polymerization of a deep eutectic solvent. DAX acts as a stabilizer for the preparation of LM nanodroplets and plays a crucial role in facilitating ultrafast gelation (less than 2 min) by virtue of its reducing dialdehyde groups. Notably, this fabrication strategy obviates the use of toxic chemical initiators and cross-linkers. The resultant eutectogels exhibit extremely high stretchability (2860%), desirable self-healing ability, high conductivity (0.72 S m^–1), biocompatibility, excellent environmental stability, and exceptional responsiveness to tensile strain (GF = 4.08) and temperature (TCR = 5.35% K^–1). Benefiting from these integrated features, the conductive eutectogels serve as multifunctional flexible sensors for human motion recognition and temperature monitoring. Furthermore, the eutectogel serves as a pliable electrode in the assembly of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), designed to harvest mechanical energy, convert it into stable electrical outputs, and enable self-powered sensing. This study offers an approach to fabricating multifunctional integrated conductive eutectogels, making it a step closer to the development of intelligent flexible electronics.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, this research represents a dual breakthrough in advanced material design and biomass valorization. The study's first author is Dr. Yang Jiyou from BFU's College of Materials Science and Technology, with corresponding authors including Professor Bian Jing from the same college and Professor Huan Weiwei from the College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering at Zhejiang A&F University.

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c11127 

Written by Bian Jing
Translated and edited by Song He
Reviewed by Yu Yangyang