Extremely stretchable hydrogels may be used in artificial muscles
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - 08:30
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —Hydrogels can reversibly change their size and shape under different conditions. This property makes them attractive for a wide variety of applications, including artificial muscles, drug delivery, and sensors. But even though stimuli-sensitive hydrogels have been studied for a few decades, they have not yet been commercialized for applications. One of the biggest problems is that they are usually weak and brittle, causing them to easily break when stretched.