Li Jinhao, Cao Jie, Bian Rong, Wan Rongtai, Zhu Xiangyang, Lu Baoyang, Gu Guoying
Robotics Institute and State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics, Flexible Electronics Innovation Institute, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):185. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55323-6.
Hydrogel-based soft machines are promising in diverse applications, such as biomedical electronics and soft robotics. However, current fabrication techniques generally struggle to construct multimaterial three-dimensional hydrogel architectures for soft machines and robots, owing to the inherent hydrogel softness from the low-density polymer network nature. Herein, we present a multimaterial cryogenic printing (MCP) technique that can fabricate sophisticated soft hydrogel machines with accurate yet complex architectures and robust multimaterial interfaces. Our MCP technique harnesses a universal all-in-cryogenic solvent phase transition strategy, involving instant ink solidification followed by in-situ synchronous solvent melting and cross-linking. We, therefore, can facilely fabricate various multimaterial 3D hydrogel structures with high aspect ratio complex geometries (overhanging, thin-walled, and hollow) in high fidelity. Using this approach, we design and manufacture all-printed all-hydrogel soft machines with versatile functions, such as self-sensing biomimetic heart valves with leaflet-status perception and untethered multimode turbine robots capable of in-tube blockage removal and transportation.
基于水凝胶的软机器在生物医学电子学和软机器人等多种应用中具有广阔前景。然而，由于低密度聚合物网络性质导致水凝胶固有的柔软性，目前的制造技术通常难以构建用于软机器和机器人的多材料三维水凝胶结构。在此，我们提出了一种多材料低温打印（MCP）技术，该技术可以制造具有精确而复杂结构以及坚固多材料界面的精密软水凝胶机器。我们的MCP技术采用了一种通用的全低温溶剂相变策略，包括墨水瞬间固化，随后进行原位同步溶剂熔化和交联。因此，我们能够轻松地以高保真度制造出具有高纵横比复杂几何形状（悬垂、薄壁和空心）的各种多材料3D水凝胶结构。利用这种方法，我们设计并制造了具有多种功能的全打印全水凝胶软机器，例如具有瓣叶状态感知功能的自感应仿生心脏瓣膜以及能够清除管内堵塞物并进行运输的无系留多模式涡轮机器人。
