Dear Readers,

In this issue I highlight an interesting review article that looks at making artificial muscles using temperature responsive hydrogels.

I also hope you enjoy reading the news article that uses alginate-based hydrogel technology along with bacteria to filter water.

In The News

Research Updates

Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Artificial Muscles (Link)

• This is a review article about thermoresponsive hydrogel artificial muscles, which are smart materials that can deform in response to temperature change and perform mechanical work.

• The authors propose possible solutions and future research directions to improve the performance and practicality of thermoresponsive hydrogel artificial muscles:

  • Manipulating the hydrogel network structure to enhance the mechanical strength, durability, and responsiveness of the material.

  • Incorporating molecular switches, such as photochromic or thermochromic molecules, to enable reversible and tunable shape changes in response to light or temperature stimuli.

  • Using advanced fabrication technologies, such as 3D printing, microfluidics, or electrospinning, to create complex and hierarchical structures with anisotropic and directional deformations .

  • Mimicking biological functionalities, such as self-healing, self-regulation, or bio-sensing, to achieve adaptive and intelligent behaviors in various environments.

Supramolecular Crosslinked Hydrogels: Similarities and Differences with Chemically Crosslinked Hydrogels (Link)

• The authors have synthesized supramolecular crosslinked hydrogels based on terpyridine-iron(II) complexes by copolymerizing a water-soluble supramolecular cross-linker with acrylamide monomers in water.

• The supramolecular hydrogels show similar rheological properties as chemically crosslinked hydrogels, but different network structures at low length scales, as revealed by proton double-quantum NMR experiments.

• These hydrogels also exhibit polyelectrolyte swelling behavior and stimulus responsiveness when exposed to an oxidant, which allows the tuning of their physical-chemical properties.

• The authors claim that their supramolecular cross-linker is versatile and can be applied to other polymer systems to create stimulus-responsive hydrogels with high thermodynamic stability.

Biomimetic Ion Channel Regulation for Temperature-Pressure Decoupled Tactile Perception (Link)

• The authors designed a novel ionic sensor that can mimic the function of the skin and distinguish between temperature and pressure signals by using ion-confined gels and synergistic strategies.

• It consists of two layers: a pressure-insensitive temperature sensing decoupling layer (TSDL) and a temperature-corrected pressure sensing layer (TCPSL), which can imitate the function of the temperature ion channel and the pressure ion channel in human skin, respectively.

• TSDL and TCPSL are separated by a semi-permeable membrane and generates an electrical signal that is detected by an external device.

• The authors claimed that their approach has great potential to overcome one of the current barriers in developing ionic skin and extending its applications.

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