Adipose tissue-inspired multiscale coupled phase-separation self-damping sensing polyurethane elastomers

Integrating mechanical energy dissipation with high-fidelity signal transduction in a single soft material remains difficult because damping and sensing typically require different structural features. Conventional conductive sensing materials often generate unstable outputs under dynamic mechanical perturbation, mainly because vibration disrupts their conductive networks. Here, we report an adipose tissue-inspired polyurethane/MXene nanocomposite designed to address this problem. The composite features a hierarchical energy-dissipation architecture that simultaneously enables efficient damping and vibration-resistant sensing. This architecture is constructed through cross-scale coupled phase separation, in which the intrinsic microphase separation of lysine-derived polyurethane is integrated with an MXene-induced sea-island morphology. Density functional theory calculations, in situ spectroscopy, and multiscale structural characterization show that this architecture forms a dynamic hydrogen-bonding network and sacrificial interfacial dissipation layers. These features dissipate vibrational energy through reversible interfacial bond reorganization while preserving continuous conductive pathways. Consequently, the composite maintains stable electrical outputs under high-frequency vibrational interference (40–120 Hz). This work establishes a design strategy for smart materials that combine mechanical and electronic functions, with potential applications in wearable electronics, soft robotics, and human-machine interfaces.