Ultra-stretchable and superhydrophobic textile-based bioelectrodes for robust self-cleaning and personal health monitoring

The rapid advancement of smart electronics has stimulated immense research interest in non-metallic bioelectrodes with scalable yet cost-effective fabrication, harsh-environment resistance, and superior sensing capabilities to various physiological signals. Here, an ultra-stretchable and self-cleaning nonwoven textile-based bioelectrode combining prominent health monitoring performance with outstanding anti-fouling ability is rationally designed and successfully fabricated via the synergistic combination of carbon black nanoparticle/CNT (CB/CNT) stretchable conductive networks and superhydrophobic perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane modified TiO2 nanoparticles (PFOTES-TiO2 NPs). The adaptive CB/CNT conductive networks on elastic fibers can facilitate efficient charge transfer under ultra-high deformation (>10 times stretching), while the outermost PFOTES-TiO2 NPs layer with good interlayer adhesion provides the micro-topological structure and low surface energy. As a result, the conductive textile used as skin-attachable bioelectrode manifests remarkable performance for personal health monitoring, including an ultra-broad detection range of 1050.0% and an extremely high GF value up to 1134.7 as wearable strain sensor, and outstanding detection ability to electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG) signals. Moreover, the bioelectrode also possesses terrific anti-fouling properties and resistance to various corrosive fluids and even severe mechanical damage, ensuring its long-term operation stability under harsh environments. Hence, this research provides a new paradigm for achieving high-performance textile-based bioelectronics.