Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling

Jia-Xin Yu; Xin Yao; Ru-Yu Zheng; Huai-Ping Cong

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2

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Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-08-03

- Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling
- Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷页码：1-9
- Affiliations：
  
  Anhui Province Engineering Research Center of Flexible and Intelligent Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
- Author bio：
  
  xinyao@hfut.edu.cn (X.Y.)
  hpcong@hfut.edu.cn (H.P.C.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22471052 and 22171066).;The authors declare no interest conflict.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2.;The data that supporting the results of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Contact information of the corresponding authors: hpcong@hfut.edu.cn (H.P.C.), xinyao@hfut.edu.cn (X.Y.)
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2026-04-01，
  
  录用：2026-05-05，
  
  网络首发：2026-08-03，
  
  纸质出版：2026-06
- Accepted：
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Yu, J. X.; Yao, X.; Zheng, R. Y.; Cong, H. P. Anisotropic hydrogels with aligned porous structures for light-steerable autonomous rolling. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2

Jia-Xin Yu, Xin Yao, Ru-Yu Zheng, et al. Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-9.
Yu, J. X.; Yao, X.; Zheng, R. Y.; Cong, H. P. Anisotropic hydrogels with aligned porous structures for light-steerable autonomous rolling. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2 DOI：

Jia-Xin Yu, Xin Yao, Ru-Yu Zheng, et al. Anisotropic Hydrogels with Aligned Porous Structures for Light-steerable Autonomous Rolling[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-9. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3734-2.

摘要

Abstract

Hydrogel actuators with intrinsic softness

biocompatibility and large deformability hold great promise for extensive applications in intelligent autonomous soft robotics. However

achieving directionally controllable autonomous motion under constant stimulation remains a key challenge

primarily due to the isotropic and densely crosslinked nature of conventional hydrogel networks

which limits both directional driving forces and efficient mass transport pathways. Here

we report a simple method for the fabrication of curved cylindrical hydrogels with aligned porous channels that enable autonomous rolling under constant light irradiation

via

directional freezing assembly-assisted

in situ

photopolymerization. Benefiting from the oriented open-cell network

the hydrogel exhibited fast light-responsive deformation with bending and recovery speeds of 16.5 (°)·s

–1

and 24 (°)·s

–1

respectively. Notably

the hydrogel achieved self-sustained rolling under constant light irradiation at a speed of 0.77 mm·s

–1

arising from the synergy of structural anisotropy and geometric curvature. By spatially modulating the irradiation region

the photo-guided direction-steerable rolling could be realized. Additionally

the hydrogel implemented multiple tasks including obstacle crossing

stair climbing and cargo transport

highlighting

its potential in biomimetic soft robotic systems.

关键词

Keywords

references

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