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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Four-Dimensional Printing of Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogel-Based Soft Robots

Four-Dimensional Printing of Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogel-Based Soft Robots

Published on: January 13, 2023

Ionoprinted Multi-Responsive Hydrogel Actuators.

Daniel Morales¹, Igor Podolsky², Russell W Mailen³

¹Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. dhmorale@ncsu.edu.

|November 9, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

We developed multi-responsive bilayer hydrogel actuators that change bending direction with temperature and solvent. Ionoprinting allows these soft actuators to invert their bending axis, enabling adaptive shape changes.

Keywords:

hydrogel actuators ionoprinting pNIPAAm soft robotics stimuli responsive systems

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Polymer Science
Soft Robotics

Background:

Hydrogel actuators offer tunable properties for soft robotics.
Controlling actuator response to multiple stimuli is crucial for advanced applications.
Bilayer hydrogels can exhibit complex bending behaviors based on differential swelling.

Purpose of the Study:

To create multi-responsive bilayer hydrogel actuators with tunable directional bending.
To investigate the effect of solvent quality and temperature on actuator response.
To enable axis inversion of bending through localized crosslinking via ionoprinting.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of bilayer hydrogel sheets combining two stimuli-responsive gels.
Modulation of solvent quality (EtOH concentration) and temperature to control swelling/shrinking.
Application of ionoprinting to create locally crosslinked regions for bending axis inversion.
Characterization of bending behavior under varying external conditions.

Main Results:

Actuators exhibited multi-responsive bending tuned by solvent and temperature.
Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and upper critical solution temperature (UCST) behaviors were observed and tuned.
Ionoprinting reliably inverted the bending axis of the hydrogel bilayer actuators.
Specific shapes unique to external conditions were achieved, demonstrating adaptive capabilities.

Conclusions:

Multi-responsive bilayer hydrogel actuators can be precisely controlled by external stimuli.
Ionoprinting is an effective method for inverting the bending axis of these actuators.
The developed actuators show promise for creating more responsive and adaptive soft actuator devices.