Carboxymethyl Cellulose/Poly (Acrylamide‐Co‐Vinyl Imidazole) Based Self‐Healing Hydrogel for Supercapacitor Applications and Moisture Determination (Part‐II)

ABSTRACT Physical entanglements between carboxymethyl cellulose chains and poly (acrylamide‐co‐vinyl imidazole) have resulted in a unique solid hydrogel electrolyte (SHE) material with highly controllable properties. The SHE showed an excellent self‐healing property, as confirmed by the “LED glowing” experiment, and the “self‐healed” material recovered 78% of its original elongation capacity. The freshly prepared SHE, when put on a copper surface, required a detachment pressure (DP) of 864 Pa, while a fairly high DP of 8909 Pa was required after 24 h of contact. The SHE sample was highly flexible and regained its shape after knotting, folding, and twisting. The hydrogel also exhibited shape memory property. Finally, the samples SHE‐I and SHE‐IV (containing 0 and 4 mL glycerol per 40 mL of film forming solution) were charged using a 12 V supercapacitor for 2 min and then employed to glow the LED bulb as well as run the alarm clock. It was found that the sample SHE‐I was able to glow the LED bulb for almost 55 min, while the sample SHE‐IV successfully lighted the LED for almost 357 min. Similarly, a small alarm clock was run by the two SHE systems for 118 and 838 min, respectively.