Bioinspiriertes Design und additive Fertigung von weichen Materialien, Maschinen, Robotern und haptischen Schnittstellen

Porous Liquid Crystalline Networks with Hydrogel-Like Actuation and Reconfigurable Function

A porous liquid crystalline network (LCN), prepared using a template method, was found to exhibit peculiar actuation functions. The creation of porosity makes the initially hydrophobic LCN behave like a hydrogel, capable of absorbing a large volume of water (up to ten times the sample size of LCN). When the amount of absorbed water is relatively small (about 100% swelling ratio), the porous LCN displays anisotropic swelling in water and, in the same time, the retained uniaxial alignment of mesogens ensures thermally induced shape change associated with LC-isotropic phase transition. Combining the characteristic actuation mechanisms of LCN (order-disorder transition of mesogens) and hydrogel (water absorption), such porous LCN can be explored for versatile stimuli-triggered shape transformations. Moreover, the porosity enables loading/removal/reloading of functional fillers such as ionic liquid, photothermal dye and fluorophore, which imparts a same porous LCN actuator with reconfigurable functions such as ionic conductivity, light-driven locomotion, and emissive color.

Emerging intraoral biosensors

Biomedical devices that involved continuous and real-time health-care monitoring have drawn much attention in modern medicine, of which skin electronics and implantable devices are widely investigated. Skin electronics are characterized for their non-invasive access to the physiological signals, and implantable devices are superior at the diagnosis and therapy integration. Despite the significant progress achieved, many gaps remain to be explored to provide a more comprehensive overview of human health. As the connecting point of the outer environment and human systems, the oral cavity contains many unique biomarkers that are absent in skin or inner organs, and hence, this could become a promising alternative locus for designing health-care monitoring devices. In this review, we outline the status of the oral cavity during the communication of the environment and human systems and compare the intraoral devices with skin electronics and implantable devices from the biophysical and biochemical aspects. We further summarize the established diagnosis database and technologies that could be adopted to design intraoral biosensors. Finally, the challenges and potential opportunities for intraoral biosensors are discussed. Intraoral biosensors could become an important complement for existing biomedical devices to constitute a more reliable health-care monitoring system.

Polymer actuators based on covalent adaptable networks

Advances in polymer actuators containing covalent adaptable networks (CANs) are summarized and discussed in this review.