Fully Printed Flexible Smart Hybrid Hydrogels

Yang Zhou, Michael Layani, Shancheng Wang, Peng Hu, Yujie Ke, Shlomo Magdassi*, Yi Long

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

141 Scopus citations

Abstract

A printable hybrid hydrogel is fabricated by embedding poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) microparticles within a water-rich silica-alumina(Si/Al)-based gel matrix. The hybrid gel holds water content of up to 70 wt%, due to its unique Si/Al matrix. The hybrid hydrogel can respond to both heat and electrical stimuli, and can be directly printed layer-by-layer using a commercial 3-dimensional printer, without requiring any curing. The hybrid ink is printed onto a transparent, flexible conductive electrode composed of silver nanoparticles and sustains bending angles of up to 180°, which enables patterning of various flexible devices such as smart windows and a 3D optical waveguide valve.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1705365
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume28
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Feb 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • PNIPAm
  • hydrogels
  • smart windows
  • thermochromics

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