文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：Out-Of-Equilibrium Hydrogel Microrobots Exhibiting Autonomous Deformation, Controllable Autolysis, and Directed Locomotion

作者：Zhang, Jiahao[1];Tang, Hongwang[1];Wang, Hucheng[1];Cai, Peiwen[1];Gao, Yuliang[1];Guo, Xuhong[1];Wang, Yiming[1,2];Xuan, Fu-Zhen[2]

机构：[1]East China Univ Sci & Technol, State Key Lab Chem Engn, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China;[2]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Shanghai Key Lab Intelligent Sensing & Detect Tech, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China

年份：2025

卷号：21

期号：29

外文期刊名：SMALL

收录：;EI(收录号：20252218506015);WOS:【SCI-EXPANDED(收录号:WOS:001493703800001)】；

基金：The authors acknowledge the financial support of Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52321002), Shanghai Pilot Program for Basic Research (22TQ1400100-9), Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (22ZR1417700), Natural Science Foundation of China (21908061), and National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD70050101).

语种：英文

外文关键词：coumarin; hydrogel microrobots; multi-responsiveness; out-of-equilibrium system; soft robotics

摘要：Access to multifunction-integrated hydrogel microrobots is highly desired in many complex application scenarios, yet remains a challenging task. Here, adaptive out-of-equilibrium hydrogel microrobots exhibiting autonomous deformation, controllable autolysis, and directed locomotion in response to orchestrated chemical and physical signals are reported. These hydrogel microrobots are prepared by crosslinking carboxyl-decorated polymers through coumarin dimerization. Upon the addition of carbodiimide as a chemical fuel, the hydrophilic carboxyl groups are converted to hydrophobic anhydrides, leading to shrinking of the microrobots. However, with the depletion of fuel, the formed anhydrides spontaneously hydrolyze to the initial carboxyl groups, thus resulting in an autonomous swelling of the microrobots to their original size. Moreover, because of the efficient photocleavage of coumarin dimers, the microrobots can rapidly disintegrate (<10 min) upon irradiation. With the incorporation of magnetic powders, these hydrogel microrobots can be guided to move in space by a magnetic field. By virtue of these seamlessly integrated functions, the hydrogel microrobots can be manipulated to adaptively move through a narrow terrain and release the loaded cargo at a target position. This work may boost the development of multifunction-integrated lifelike soft robots for many complicated applications ranging from precision drug delivery to non-invasive therapies.