Spider web-inspired sericin/polyacrylamide composite hydrogel with super-low hysteresis for monitoring penalty of sports competition

Conventional hydrogels often suffer from limitations such as poor hysteresis and low elasticity, significantly restricting their applications and service life. To address these issues, a spider web-inspired super-low hysteresis interpenetrating network hydrogel is designed using a straightforward in-situ thermal polymerization process. Stretching repeatedly within the range of human motion strain, this hydrogel can be rapidly restored to its original form using the formation of multiple hydrogen bonds and the introduction of the molecular spring structure of the β-sheet and α-helix in sericin, which means the service life of the hydrogel is increased imperceptibly. In addition, the sensitive sensing properties of the hydrogel allow for rapid feedback on the movement of human joints, making it possible to apply to considerably sophisticated human motion monitoring requiring rapid response. This kind of hydrogel with super-low hysteresis (1.65 %, ε = 100 %), transparency (88.84 % in 500 nm), rapid response (≈173 ms) and excellent sensitivity (GF = 2.88 in the strain range of 0–180 %) has great application prospects in intelligent judgment in sports competition and human body monitoring.