• Multi-functional 3D printed hy...

*Result*: Multi-functional 3D printed hydrogel electrodes for brain-computer interfaces and wearable sensing.

Title:
Multi-functional 3D printed hydrogel electrodes for brain-computer interfaces and wearable sensing.
Authors:
Wu X; School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China., Ge H; School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China., Zhao W; CAS Key Laboratory of Space Manufacturing Technology, Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China., Thummavichai K; Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, NE1 8ST, United Kingdom., Bi L; School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address: bhxblz@bit.edu.cn., Chen B; School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Source:
Journal of colloid and interface science [J Colloid Interface Sci] 2026 Feb 15; Vol. 704 (Pt 2), pp. 139418. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Nov 08.
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0043125 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-7103 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00219797 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Colloid Interface Sci Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Publication: Orlando, FL : Academic Press
Original Publication: New York.
MeSH Terms:
Hydrogels*/chemistry , Wearable Electronic Devices* , Brain-Computer Interfaces* , Printing, Three-Dimensional*, Nanotubes, Carbon/chemistry ; Polyvinyl Alcohol/chemistry ; Carrageenan/chemistry ; Electrodes ; Humans ; Surface Properties
Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: 3D printing; Brain-computer interfaces; Conductive hydrogel; Flexible strain sensor
Substance Nomenclature:
0 (Hydrogels)
0 (Nanotubes, Carbon)
9002-89-5 (Polyvinyl Alcohol)
9000-07-1 (Carrageenan)
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20251111 Date Completed: 20251127 Latest Revision: 20251127
Update Code:
20260130
DOI:
10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139418
PMID:
41218505
Database:
MEDLINE

*Further Information*

*In this study, a 3D printing-based polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/κ-carrageenan (κ-CA)/ carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hydrogel composite (referred to as PCC) was developed for the fabrication of flexible electrodes, targeting applications in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and wearable strain sensors. The hydrogel composite exhibited excellent mechanical properties, including a tensile strength of 633 kPa, an elastic modulus of 243 kPa, and a maximum tensile strain of 283 %. In BCI tests, the PCC hydrogel electrode achieved a scalp contact impedance of 76.08 kΩ across five channels, with signal quality comparable to wet electrodes (3.06 μV at 13 Hz stimulation) and significantly higher than dry electrodes (2.16 μV). The decoding accuracy for the PCC hydrogel electrode was 78.2 % with a 1.25 s window length, comparable to the wet electrode, and the information transfer rate (ITR) reached 71.3 bits/min. Furthermore, the hydrogel demonstrated excellent strain sensing performance, with a gauge factor (GF) of 2.7 in the 0-75 % strain range and fast self-recovery, making it a promising material for dynamic wearable sensing devices. This work highlights the successful integration of material optimization and structural design, offering a new approach for development of next-generation flexible bioelectronic devices.
(Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)*

*Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Binling Chen reports was provided by National Key Research and Development Program of China. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.*