A conductive, antibacterial, and antifouling hydrogel based on zwitterion

This paper proposes a cationic double-network hydrogel, which has good electrical conductivity, antibacterial properties, antiprotein adsorption, and mechanical properties. The cationic polymer formed a conductive path in the hydrogel network, so that the gel had good conductivity. With the increase of carboxybetaine ester, the conductivity gradually increases. As a sensor, hydrogel could respond quickly to strains such as stretching and bending. In addition, the hydrogel showed excellent antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli , the antibacterial rate can reach up to 99%. After hydrolysis, the hydrogel showed stable antiprotein adsorption performance. The tensile strength of the gel could reach 1.05 MPa, and the elongation at break was 474.31%. Therefore, this gel may be used for dressing and electronic skin. And the morphology of the hydrogel was characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, and SEM.