Based on research projects and school characteristics

a teaching experiment was designed for the fabrication and application of high-performance conductive hydrogels. The experiment includes preparation

mechanical properties

structure-property relationship

and application of the conductive hydrogel. Owing to the synergy of hydrophobic associations and ionic interactions

the obtained hydrogel displayed outstanding mechanical properties

that is

the tensile strain and toughness were 30mm/mm and 10.34MJ/m3

which were 19 and 225 times of the traditional polyacrylamide hydrogel

respectively. In addition

it exhibited gauge factor of 3.4

and could reliably monitor finger bending. This experiment captured the students’ attention and promoted their involvements. The experiment not only consolidated basic concepts in the field of organic chemistry

analytical chemistry

polymer chemistry and material engineering

but also improved their skills in conducting experiments

analyzing data and conveying information accurately.