A Transparent Acoustic Damping Hydrogel with Dual-scale Bicontinuous Microphase Separation

Chen-Chen Lou; Bao-Hu Wu; Sheng-Tong Sun; Pei-Yi Wu

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3642-5

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A Transparent Acoustic Damping Hydrogel with Dual-scale Bicontinuous Microphase Separation

Special Topic: Functional Gels | Updated：2026-05-30

- A Transparent Acoustic Damping Hydrogel with Dual-scale Bicontinuous Microphase Separation
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 6, Pages: 1727-1737(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
  b.Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) Forschungszentrum Jülich, Garching 85748, Germany
- Author bio：
  
  shengtongsun@dhu.edu.cn (S.T.S.)
  wupeiyi@dhu.edu.cn (P.Y.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3642-5
  CLC：
- Received：11 February 2026，
  
  Accepted：03 March 2026，
  
  Online First：12 May 2026，
  
  Published：05 June 2026
- Accepted：
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Lou, C. C.; Wu, B. H.; Sun, S. T.; Wu, P. Y. A transparent acoustic damping hydrogel with dual-scale bicontinuous microphase separation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1727–1737

Chen-Chen Lou, Bao-Hu Wu, Sheng-Tong Sun, et al. A Transparent Acoustic Damping Hydrogel with Dual-scale Bicontinuous Microphase Separation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(6): 1727-1737.
Lou, C. C.; Wu, B. H.; Sun, S. T.; Wu, P. Y. A transparent acoustic damping hydrogel with dual-scale bicontinuous microphase separation. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1727–1737 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3642-5.

Chen-Chen Lou, Bao-Hu Wu, Sheng-Tong Sun, et al. A Transparent Acoustic Damping Hydrogel with Dual-scale Bicontinuous Microphase Separation[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(6): 1727-1737. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3642-5.

摘要

This work presents a hierarchical hydrogel that combines optical transparency and acoustic damping capacity. The hydrogel features a dual-scale bicontinuous nanostructure comprising three intertwined phases: hydrophilic

hydrophobic

and aqueous. This architecture enables acoustic impedance matching with water

strong vibrational damping

and ultrahigh absorption of sound.

Abstract

Underwater camouflage materials can be hidden either from sight by being transparent or from sound by absorbing acoustic waves

but achieving both in one material remains challenging due to their distinct chemical designs. Here we decouple these conflicting properties using a hierarchically structured hydrogel featuring unique dual-scale bicontinuous microphase separation. By precisely integrating hydrophilic and hydrophobic units

we engineer three intertwined polymer-rich and aqueous phases spanning nano-to-micro length scales. This unique nanoconfinement preserves optical clarity by minimizing light scattering while facilitating ultrahigh broadband energy dissipation. Furthermore

the hydrogel’s acoustic impedance matches that of water

maximizing sound wave incidence into the material

where the propagating waves are scattered and attenuated through viscoelastic damping within the highly tortuous hydrophilic phases. A hydrogel film only 4 mm thick can absorb nearly 78% of incident sound energy. These findings highlight molecular-engineered hierarchical phase separation as a powerful strategy for developing advanced opto-acoustic soft materials.

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references

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