Abstract
Tough and responsive hydrogels have recently attracted great research interests for potential applications in artifical muscles, soft robotics, and actuators, etc. This paper overviews our recent progresses in the design and synthesis of hydrogels with very high strength and toughness, and actuators based on these hydrogels. Inorganic nanospheres, nanorods, and nanosheets are exploited as multi-functional crosslinkers to adsorb or bond with hydrophilic chains, leading to hydrogels with very high strength, toughness, fatigue resistance, and/or self-healing. Introduction of functional groups including ionic monomers and amino groups results in hydrogels reponsive to pH, ionic strength and electric field. Besides, ionoprinting has been used to change local crosslink density based on reversible chelating/decomposition of metal ions with functional groups. This process is rapid and thus enables reversible and rapid actuation of hydrogel devices. Our studies will further aim to develop sophiscated devices by assembling hydrogel actuators.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
O. Okay, W. Oppermann, Macromolecules 40 (2007) 3378–3387.
M. Shibayama, T. Karino, S. Miyazaki, S. Okabe, T. Takehisa, K. Haraguchi, Macromolecules 38 (2005) 10772–10781.
X. Zhao, Soft Matter 10 (2014) 672–687.
Y. Okumura, K. Ito, Advanced Materials 13 (2001) 485.
J.P. Gong, Y. Katsuyama, T. Kurokawa, Y. Osada, Adv. Mater. 15 (2003) 1155.
J.P. Gong, Soft Matter 6 (2010) 2583–2590.
W.-C. Lin, W. Fan, A. Marcellan, D. Hourdet, C. Creton, Macromolecules 43 (2010) 2554–2563.
C. He, K. Jiao, X. Zhang, M. Xiang, Z. Li, H. Wang, Soft Matter 7 (2011) 2943–2952.
J. Yang, L.-H. Deng, C.-R. Han, J.-F. Duan, M.-G. Ma, X.-M. Zhang, F. Xu, R.-C. Sun, Soft Matter 9 (2013) 1220–1230.
P. Schexnailder, G. Schmidt, Colloid Polym. Sci. 287 (2009) 1–11.
Z.L. Wu, T. Kurokawa, S. Liang, H. Furukawa, J.P. Gong, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132 (2010) 10064–10069.
M. Nakahata, Y. Takashima, H. Yamaguchi, A. Harada, Nat. Commun. 2 (2011).
H. Gao, N. Wang, X. Hu, W. Nan, Y. Han, W. Liu, Macromol. Rapid Commun. 34 (2013) 63–68.
D.C. Tuncaboylu, A. Argun, M. Sahin, M. Sari, O. Okay, Polymer 53 (2012) 5513–5522.
T.L. Sun, T. Kurokawa, S. Kuroda, A.B. Ihsan, T. Akasaki, K. Sato, M.A. Haque, T. Nakajima, J.P. Gong, Nat Mater 12 (2013) 932–937.
T. Kakuta, Y. Takashima, M. Nakahata, M. Otsubo, H. Yamaguchi, A. Harada, Adv. Mater. 25 (2013) 2849–2853.
Q. Wang, R.X. Hou, Y.J. Cheng, J. Fu, Soft Matter 8 (2012) 6048–6056.
G. Gao, G. Du, Y. Sun, J. Fu, ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 7 (2015) 5029–5037.
Y.-n. Sun, G.-r. Gao, G.-l. Du, Y.-j. Cheng, J. Fu, ACS Macro Lett. 3 (2014) 496–500.
Y. Sun, S. Liu, G. Du, G. Gao, J. Fu, Chem. Commun. 51 (2015) 8512–8515.
M. Zhu, L. Xiong, T. Wang, X. Liu, C. Wang, Z. Tong, React. Funct. Polym. 70 (2010) 267–271.
Y. Osada, H. Okuzaki, H. Hori, Nature 355 (1992) 242–244.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fu, J., Gao, G. & Sun, Y. Non-covalent Tough Hydrogels for Functional Actuators. MRS Advances 1, 501–507 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2015.3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2015.3