Electrical conductivity and impedance behaviour of hydrogels

The impedance and electrical conductivity behavior of gellan gum hydrogels containing the conducting fillers poly(3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and vapour grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNF) is presented. Impedance analysis showed that an equivalent circuit consisting of a Warburg element in series with a resistor could be used to model the gels' behavior. It is demonstrated that the addition of the conducting fillers PEDOT:PSS and VGCNFs can result in a measurable improvement in the conductivity of hydrogels with high water content and swelling ratios. Incorporation of combinations of these conducting fillers resulted in an improvement of the conductivity of gellan gum-containing hydrogels with water content (swelling ratio) of at least 97.5% (40) from 1.2 ± 0.1 mS/cm to 4 ± 0.6 mS/cm.