4D-Printable, Smart Lubricious Pickering Emulsion Gels Fabricated with Reversibly Assembled Nanogel Surfactants

Yu Zhang ^1,2, Yujie Yang ^3,4, Yunjing Wang ³

⁰School of Materials Science and Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, China.

Small (weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany) +

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December 15, 2025

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Researchers developed novel water-in-oil Pickering emulsion gels with exceptional lubrication and shape-shifting abilities. These versatile smart materials offer long-term stability and tunable friction for advanced applications.

Area Of Science

Soft Matter Science
Materials Science
Tribology

Background

Lubricious gels are crucial for smart devices and biomimetic systems.
Creating shape-programmable gels with stable lubrication remains challenging.
Existing oleogel and hydrogel systems have limitations in adaptability and design freedom.

Purpose Of The Study

To fabricate highly stable, viscoelastic, shear-thinning, and thixotropic water-in-oil Pickering emulsion gels.
To achieve gels with tunable tribological performance and shape-reconfiguration capabilities.
To explore the potential of these gels in 3D printing and adaptive soft matter systems.

Main Methods

Utilized a nanoparticle surfactant assembled from N-isopropylacrylamide-methacrylic acid nanogel and diamine-terminated polydimethylsiloxane.
Employed the surfactant as both an emulsifier and physical crosslinker to form stable interfacial films.
Investigated the gels' properties including lubrication, structural stability, swelling resistance, and friction under various conditions.
Explored temperature- and pH-controlled reversible assembly for shape reconfiguration and switched frictional behavior.

Main Results

Successfully fabricated stable water-in-oil Pickering emulsion gels with near-zero interfacial tension.
Demonstrated excellent long-term lubrication (maintained over 400,000 friction cycles) in air and under water.
Achieved high-resolution 3D printing capabilities with long-term structural stability and swelling resistance.
Showcased reversible shape reconfiguration and multilevel switched frictional behavior controlled by temperature and pH.

Conclusions

The developed Pickering emulsion gels offer a versatile platform for creating adaptive soft materials.
These gels exhibit outstanding tribological performance and tunable properties for advanced applications.
The findings provide new insights for designing smart, shape-programmable, and highly lubricious materials.

Keywords:

4D printing emulsion gels nanoparticle surfactants reversible assembly switchable lubrication