Electrically conductive hydrogels with tunable properties

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10858522-B2
Application number	US-201916452176-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2019
Priority date	Jun 26, 2018
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A manufacturing method includes: inducing gelation of an electrically conductive polymer to form a gel; infiltrating the gel with a solution including monomers; and polymerizing the monomers to form a secondary polymer network intermixed with the electrically conductive polymer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A manufacturing method comprising:
inducing gelation of an electrically conductive polymer to form a gel;
infiltrating the gel with a solution including monomers; and
polymerizing the monomers to form a secondary polymer network intermixed with the electrically conductive polymer.

2. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein inducing gelation of the electrically conductive polymer includes:
combining the electrically conductive polymer with an ionic species to form the gel.

3. The manufacturing method of claim 2 , wherein the ionic species is an ionic liquid, a metal salt, a polyelectrolyte, or a charged oligomer; or is part of a buffered solution.

4. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive polymer is poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate).

5. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the monomers are vinyl monomers, and the secondary polymer network includes a vinyl polymer.

6. The manufacturing method of claim 5 , wherein the secondary polymer network includes polyacrylic acid or polyacrylamide.

7. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the monomers are ethers, and the secondary polymer network includes a polyether.

8. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the monomers are monomers of a self-healing polymer, a thermo-responsive polymer, or a pH-responsive polymer.

9. The manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the inducing gelation step comprises
providing a sacrificial layer; and

applying an electrical input to the sacrificial layer in a presence of a solution of the electrically conductive polymer to induce gelation of the electrically conductive polymer to form the gel.

10. The manufacturing method of claim 9 , wherein applying the electrical input includes applying an anodic bias to the sacrificial layer.

11. The manufacturing method of claim 9 , wherein the sacrificial layer includes a metal, and applying the electrical input includes inducing oxidation of the metal to form cations of the metal.

12. The manufacturing method of claim 9 , wherein providing the sacrificial layer includes forming the sacrificial layer as a patterned sacrificial layer on a substrate, and applying the electrical input to the sacrificial layer includes forming the coating of the hydrogel as a patterned coating of the hydrogel on the substrate.

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Feig Vivian R
• Tran Helen
• Bao Zhenan

Classifications

• C09D5/24 Primary

  Electrically-conducting paints {(conductive materials H01B1/00)} · CPC title

• C08J2300/208

  Interpenetrating networks [IPN] · CPC title

• A61L27/16

  obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title

• C09D171/00

  Coating compositions based on polyethers obtained by reactions forming an ether link in the main chain (based on polyacetals C09D159/00; based on epoxy resins C09D163/00; based on polythioether-ethers C09D181/02; based on polyethersulfones C09D181/06); Coating compositions based on derivatives of such polymers · CPC title

• C08J3/075

  Macromolecular gels · CPC title