Figure 4.

Conductivity of granular hydrogels. a) Schematic of hydrogel structures, including: i) bulk hydrogels with AgNPs through in situ process (“in situ”), ii) granular hydrogels without AgNPs, iii) granular hydrogels with AgNPs pre‐embedded during microgel fabrication (“pre‐emb”), or iv) granular hydrogels with AgNPs through “in situ” process. The brown line describes the proposed electron (e‐) transfer passing through each hydrogel, including a solid line for continuous flow and dashed line for discontinuous flow. b) Electrical conductivity in the various hydrogels. One‐way ANOVA, Dunnett's test for multiple comparisons to “in situ” microgels, ****p < 0.0001. c) LED emitting tests in electrical circuit serially connected with the various hydrogels, showing greatest light intensity for granular hydrogels with microgels treated with the “in situ” process. d) UV–vis spectra after 24 h indicating dissociation of AgNPs from the hydrogels.