Hydrogels for Energy and Bioelectronics Applications

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Polymer hydrogels are a remarkable class of materials that have attracted interest in material research due to their superior properties. These three-dimensional, viscoelastic, crosslinked networks of hydrophilic polymers are remarkably good at absorbing and retaining fluids or large amounts of interstitial water without compromising their structural integrity. This sorbent property has spurred their applications in biomedicine for use as scaffolds for drug delivery, tissue engineering, contact lens development, soft robots, and wearable electronics. However, because of their poor fatigue resistance, polymer hydrogels are prone to fatigue fracture during cyclic deformations. Our group has been aimed at investigating systematic solutions to make hydrogel suitable for advanced energy, tissue engineering, and bioelectronic applications.

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