Highly Conductive, Anti-Freezing Hemicellulose-Based Hydrogels Prepared via Deep Eutectic Solvents and Their Applications

Hydrogels containing renewable resources, such as hemicellulose, have received a lot of attention owing to their softness and electrical conductivity which could be applied in soft devices and wearable equipment. However, traditional hemicellulose-based hydrogels generally exhibit poor electrical conductivity and suffer from freezing at lower temperatures owing to the presence of a lot of water. In this study, we dissolved hemicellulose by employing deep eutectic solvents (DESs), which were prepared by mixing choline chloride and imidazole. In addition, hemicellulose-based DES hydrogels were fabricated via photo-initiated reactions of acrylamide and hemicellulose with <i>N</i>, <i>N</i>′-Methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The produced hydrogels demonstrated high electrical conductivity and anti-freezing properties. The conductivity of the hydrogels was 2.13 S/m at room temperature and 1.97 S/m at −29 °C. The hydrogel’s freezing point was measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to be −47.78 °C. Furthermore, the hemicellulose-based DES hydrogels can function as a dependable and sensitive strain sensor for monitoring a variety of human activities.