Advances in nanofiber hydrogels: Revolutionizing wearable technology applications

With the increasing demand for flexible and durable materials in wearable technology, hydrogels have attracted wide attention due to their softness, flexibility, and biocompatibility. However, their poor long-term stability, environmental sensitivity, limited scalability, and insufficient conductivity hinder the practical applications. This review has addressed these challenges by incorporating nanofibers into hydrogel frameworks, combining the biocompatibility and water retention of hydrogels with the strength, conductivity, and adaptability of nanofibers. The tremendous efforts have been concentrated on the progress of nanofiber hydrogels to fulfill the versatile wearable applications by employing the functional groups or additives to modify the hydrogel network. This review first elaborates the cross-linking strategies and fabrication methods of nanofiber hydrogels. Then, the mechanical, electrical, self-healing, antibacterial and biocompatible properties of the nanofiber hydrogels have been discussed. Subsequently, this review presents several promising applications of the nanofiber hydrogels in the energy storage and wearable sensing field, with the emphasis on the durability and adaptability under the complex conditions. In addition, the future outlooks of the hydrogels have been introduced. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the design principles and synthesis strategies of the nanofiber hydrogels, along with an in-depth analysis of their key characteristics. This review enables researchers to timely grasp the latest progress and therefore might afford some rewarding insights for the future researches of the hydrogels. It is expected that this review can serve as a useful guide for the targeted design of the high-performance hydrogels and boost their practical applications in the wearable field.