Light-driven Self-sustained Rolling of Cylinder Hydrogels with Fast and Anisotropic Responses

Qing-Li Zhu; Han-Lei Cheng; Wei-Xuan Liu; Yin-Bin Xiao; Xin-Lei Wu; Josef Breu; Wei Hong; Zhi-Jian Wang; Qiang Zheng; Zi-Liang Wu

doi:10.1007/s10118-024-3196-3

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Light-driven Self-sustained Rolling of Cylinder Hydrogels with Fast and Anisotropic Responses

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-07-14

- Light-driven Self-sustained Rolling of Cylinder Hydrogels with Fast and Anisotropic Responses
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 4, Pages: 548-555(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
  b.Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
  c.Bavarian Polymer Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
  d.Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan
- Author bio：
  
  wangzj@icredd.hokudai.ac.jp (Z.J.W.)
  wuziliang@zju.edu.cn (Z.L.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-024-3196-3
  CLC：
- Received：15 June 2024，
  
  Revised：2024-07-04，
  
  Accepted：05 July 2024，
  
  Online First：21 October 2024，
  
  Published：01 April 2025
- Accepted：
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Zhu, Q. L.; Cheng, H. L.; Liu, W. X.; Xiao, Y. B.; Wu, X. L.; Breu, J.; Hong, W.; Wang, Z. J.; Zheng, Q.; Wu, Z. L. Light-driven self-sustained rolling of cylinder hydrogels with fast and anisotropic responses. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 548–555

Qing-Li Zhu, Han-Lei Cheng, Wei-Xuan Liu, et al. Light-driven Self-sustained Rolling of Cylinder Hydrogels with Fast and Anisotropic Responses[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(4): 548-555.
Zhu, Q. L.; Cheng, H. L.; Liu, W. X.; Xiao, Y. B.; Wu, X. L.; Breu, J.; Hong, W.; Wang, Z. J.; Zheng, Q.; Wu, Z. L. Light-driven self-sustained rolling of cylinder hydrogels with fast and anisotropic responses. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 548–555 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-024-3196-3.

Qing-Li Zhu, Han-Lei Cheng, Wei-Xuan Liu, et al. Light-driven Self-sustained Rolling of Cylinder Hydrogels with Fast and Anisotropic Responses[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(4): 548-555. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-024-3196-3.

摘要

The soft robot composed of a photothermal responsive anisotropic hydrogel with a fast and reversible deformation exhibits continuous rolling motion under constant light irradiation by the mirror symmetry-breaking

and the rolling motion is characterized by intriguing oscillatory behavior.

Abstract

Achieving continuous motions typically requires dynamic external stimuli for cyclic deformation

or crafted geometries with intricate modules to form a self-regulated feedback loop upon static stimulation. It is still a grand challenge to realize self-sustained motion in soft robots subject to unchanging environment

without complex geometry or a control m

odule. In this work

we report soft robots based on an anisotropic cylindrical hydrogel showing self-regulated

continuous rolling motions under constant light irradiation. The robots are animated by mirror-symmetry-breaking induced by photothermal strain gradient. The self-sustained motion is attributed to the fast and reversible deformation of the gel and the autonomous refresh of the irradiated region during the rolling motion. The hydrogel robots can reach a rolling speed of 1.27 mm·s

−1

on a horizonal surface and even climb a ramp of 18° at a speed of 0.57 mm·s

−1

in an aqueous environment. Furthermore

the hydrogel robots can overcome an obstacle

with rolling direction controllable through irradiation angle of the light and local irradiation on selective regions. This work suggests a facile strategy to develop hydrogel robots and may provide unforeseen inspirations for the design of self-regulated soft robots by using other intelligent materials.

关键词

Keywords

references

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