Rapid preparation of N-CNTs/P(AA-co-AM) composite hydrogel via frontal polymerization and its mechanical and conductive properties

Deep eutectic solvent (DES) was prepared by using acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) as hydrogen bonding donors (HBD) and choline chloride (ChCl) as hydrogen bonding receptors (HBA). Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were dispersed in DES as fillers, and N-CNTs/P(AA-co-AM) composite hydrogels were prepared by FP. The interaction mode between the hydrogel and N-CNTs was characterized by Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties, pH response and electrical conductivity of the composite hydrogels were studied. The results showed that the mechanical properties of the hydrogel were significantly enhanced with the increase of N-CNT content. The tensile strength and compressive strength of the FP4 composite hydrogel reached 5.42 MPa and 4.29 MPa, respectively. Due to the dissociation of carboxyl groups in AA in an alkaline environment the composite hydrogel showed excellent pH response performance. The conductivity of the hydrogel was also found to be improved with the content of N-CNTs. When the content of N-CNTs is 1.0 wt%, the conductivity of the hydrogel was 4.2 times higher than that of the hydrogel without N-CNTs, and connecting it to a circuit can make an LED lamp emit bright light. In this study, a simple and green method was proposed to prepare composite hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties and electrical conductivity by FP of DES in less than 5 min.