Engineering and Technology

High speed underwater hydrogel robots with programmable motions powered by light

C. Ni, D. Chen, et al.

This groundbreaking research by Chujun Ni, Di Chen, Xin Wen, Binjie Jin, Yi He, Tao Xie, and Qian Zhao introduces a unique method for high-speed, programmable actuation in advanced hydrogels. By utilizing dynamic photo-activated disulfide bond exchange, they enable robots to perform various swift movements such as swimming and walking, all driven by heat-induced changes rather than traditional mass diffusion.

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Abstract

This paper presents a novel mechanism for achieving high-speed and programmable actuation in disulfide crosslinked, thermally responsive hydrogels. By utilizing dynamic photo-activated disulfide bond exchange, spatio-selective network anisotropy is introduced, leading to actuation dominated by thermally driven conformational change rather than mass diffusion. Incorporation of photothermal fillers allows light-powered oscillation at frequencies up to 1.7 Hz. This, combined with programming versatility, enables the creation of robots with diverse high-speed motions such as swimming, walking, and rotating.

Publisher

Nature Communications

Published On

Nov 23, 2023

Authors

Chujun Ni, Di Chen, Xin Wen, Binjie Jin, Yi He, Tao Xie, Qian Zhao

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