Functional Starch-Based Conductive Hydrogel for Flexible Electronics: Design, Construction, and Applications

Abstract

Conductive hydrogels show great promise in the field of flexible bioelectronics, but their complex synthesis process and insufficient safety limit practical applications. Starch, as a natural polysaccharide, is an ideal candidate for bio-based conductive materials due to its processability, biocompatibility, and degradability. This review summarizes the research progress of starch-based conductive materials, elucidates their synthesis mechanisms, and elaborates on the methods for imparting conductivity to starch and their application advancements in the conductive materials. Especially, the review emphasizes the high compatibility between starch-based materials and biological tissues and focuses on different design methods of starch-based conductive hydrogels, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages. Then, the properties and applications of starch-based conductive hydrogels in wearable sensors, supercapacitors, batteries, and other biomedical-related devices were summarized emphatically. Meanwhile, this review also objectively examined the current challenges, focusing on the difficulties in enhancing the performance of starch-based conductive hydrogels, reducing production costs, and scaling up manufacturing. Overall, these analyses were conducted to guide the further development of conductive hydrogels toward greener and more sustainable practices.

Keywords

conductive hydrogel / electronic devices / sensors / starch

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