Multifunctional hydrogels simultaneously featuring ultrahigh stretchability, remarkable tearing resistance, and reusable fluorescence for information encoding–decoding and smart anticounterfeiting

Fluorescent hydrogels with fluorescent dyes are widely used for anti-counterfeiting encryption. However, developing highly stretchable and remarkable tear-resistant hydrogels with reusable fluorescence for anti-counterfeiting purposes remains challenging. In this study, we fabricated and characterized double network (DN) hydrogels comprising polyvinyl alcohol-borax (PVA-borax) as the first network and poly(methacrylamide-co-polyethylene glycol-co-pyrenylmethyl acrylate) (P(MAM-co-PEGMA-co-PyMA)) as the second network with varying MAM to PEGMA ratios. SEM images showed the hydrogels had 3D porous structures. FT-IR and thermal properties analysis (DSC and TGA) indicated the presence of hydrogen bonds between PVA-borax and P(MAM-co-PEGMA-co-PyMA) without any chemical bonds. The red shift in characteristic absorption bands at 841 and 710 cm−1 further confirmed the presence of π-π* interactions between pyrene moieties. XRD analysis revealed no significant changes in crystalline phase of the hydrogels, which facilitated the formation of a 3D network due to abundant hydrogen bond presence. When the MAM to PEGMA ratio was adjusted to 9:2, the resulting hydrogels exhibited remarkable properties such as ultra-high stretchability (strain over 3300 %), excellent notch-insensitivity, and exceptional tear resistance (tearing energy over 3.25 × 105 J/m2). Importantly, the hydrogel's fluorescence intensity could be reversibly changed by alternatively adding Fe3+ and EDTA-2Na. It could be reused more than 10 times while maintaining a fluorescence intensity of around 80 %, demonstrating its reliability as a versatile hydrogel probe for Fe3+ detection with “ON-OFF-ON” fluorescence behavior. Furthermore, the hydrogels demonstrated exceptional 2D encryption and decryption capabilities, highlighting their potential applications in information storage and data security. To improve the level of anti-counterfeiting, multiple encryption approaches such as QR codes and ASCII binary codes were rationally designed. Overall, this study successfully developed a universal DN hydrogel platform with ultra-high stretchability and remarkable tear resistance, capable of rapid encoding and decoding of complex information for smart anti-counterfeiting.