MULTI-HYDROGEL 4D PRINTING FOR DEFORMATION CONTROL

This paper describes a method to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) microstructures composed of multiple types of stimuli-responsive hydrogels. Using our method, multi-hydrogels 3D microstructures with internal gaps (ex. framed structure, beams structure etc.) can be printed and polymerized in supporting viscous liquid. We fabricated straight-line patterns composed of two types of hydrogels (pNIPAM: stimuli-responsive, and pAM: non-responsive). The printed multi-hydrogel structures were evaluated for the printing accuracy and the stimuli-responsivity to ensure their deformation controllability. Our proposed method would be an effective tool for creating multi-hydrogel 3D microstructures with various types of stimuli (optical, pH, molecular, etc.), for applications in soft actuators/robotics, and self-assembly/adaptive systems.