| 초록 |
Soft materials share a common feature in that their physical behaviors occur at an energy scale comparable to kT. Among these materials, hydrogels are characterized by their solid-like physical behaviors despite the majority of volume (or weight) being occupied by water. Owing to such qualities, i.e. being soft, physically structured, and high water content, hydrogels can undergo a large amount of swelling (＞ 100 times in volume) through a delicate balance between entropy and enthalpy, which are largely affected by a change in environmental conditions, and therefore have uses in various applications including tissue engineering, bio-sensors, micro-actuators, and drug delivery vehicles. In this presentation, I will describe how we use such stimuli-responsive hydrogels along with micro-fabrication techniques to create hydrogel sheets that buckle into desired 3D morphologies through a locally differential swelling. |
