Facile fabrication of flexible alginate/polyaniline/graphene hydrogel fibers for strain sensor

Continuous production of conductive hydrogel fibers has received extensive interests due to their wide application in strain sensors. In this paper, we report on the fabrication of continuous alginate/polyaniline/graphene hydrogel fibers by the in situ polymerization and wet spinning methods. The obtained hydrogel fiber with good flexibility, high water absorbability (11.37 g/g), proper resistivity (220 Ω·m ) and stable resistance changes at both low strain (10%) and high strain (20% and 50%) could be used as a working strain sensor for a wearable human movements monitor. The conductive alginate/polyaniline/graphene hydrogel fiber shows highly sensitive, flexible, and recoverable (90% retention after five cycles) properties when monitoring palm, elbow, and knee movements. This kind of hydrogel with high elasticity and high sensitivity provides a possibility for the preparation of electromechanical sensors.