Reprogrammable ultra-fast shape-transformation of macroporous composite hydrogel sheets

J Mater Chem B. 2017 Apr 28;5(16):2883-2887. doi: 10.1039/C6TB02198K. Epub 2017 Mar 22.

Abstract

In this communication, we report a composite macroporous hydrogel sheet that can rapidly transform into multiple 3D shapes in response to near-infrared (NIR) light on demand. The transformation relies on the photo-thermal-induced asymmetric shrinking of the hydrogel material, which is further verified by finite element modeling.