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Ice‐Templated Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Actuators with Fast, Low‐Hysteresis Actuation Cycles
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Ice‐Templated Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Actuators with Fast, Low‐Hysteresis Actuation Cycles
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Journal Article
Ice‐Templated Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Actuators with Fast, Low‐Hysteresis Actuation Cycles
2025
Overview
Thermoresponsive hydrogels (TRHs) are recognized for their ability to undergo reversible volumetric and morphological transformations in response to thermal stimuli. However, despite advances in formulation and reinforcement strategies, the actuation performance of TRHs, including deformation amplitude, response speed, and recovery efficiency, remains constrained. TRH actuators are typically synthesized in aqueous media, forming densely entangled networks that restrict water diffusion, resulting in sluggish and hysteresis actuation behavior. Here, the study introduces a synergistic fabrication strategy combining ice‐templating with in situ polymerization to produce porous, anisotropically structured TRH actuators based on poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) hydrogels. Controlled unidirectional ice crystal growth, followed by melting, yields aligned porous networks that facilitate rapid solvent transport, enhancing actuation speed and suppressing hysteresis. Mechanical resilience is further significantly achieved by incorporating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as physical entanglements, elevating compressive strength to ≈112 kPa compared to ≈10 kPa for conventional PNIPAm hydrogels. Importantly, the reinforced semi‐interpenetrating PNIPAm/PVA hydrogels demonstrate rapid recovery within ≈90 s, substantially outperforming the traditional dense structures that require several hours. The integration of ice‐templated architectural control with compositional reinforcement enables the development of strong, fast‐responding, and low‐hysteresis TRHs, offering significant potential for next‐generation soft actuators, sensors, and artificial muscles, which will demand rapid and cyclically reliable operation. The study demonstrates a synergistic fabrication concept that combines ice‐templating with in situ polymerization to produce semi‐interpenetrating network thermoresponsive hydrogels with aligned porous architectures. The thermoresponsive hydrogels exhibit rapid actuation and recovery, low hysteresis, and improved compressive strength. This work demonstrates a scalable design for high‐performance soft actuators and temperature‐responsive fluidic systems.
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley-VCH
Subject
