“4D printing of self-healing and shape-memory hydrogels sensitive to body temperature”

The development of thermoresponsive shape-memory hydrogels (SMHs) that combine robust mechanical properties, self-healing capabilities, and 4D printing potential holds great promise for advanced biomedical and smart material applications. Such hydrogels with trigger temperatures close to but below 37 °C are ideal for biomedical use. Despite their potential, developing SMHs that meet the right trigger temperature along with sufficient mechanical strength remains a significant challenge. We present here a simple strategy to create 4D-printed mechanically robust, self-healing and shape-memory supramolecular hydrogels with a Young’s modulus and tensile strength of 51 ± 1 MPa, and 6.0 ± 0.3 MPa, respectively. They exhibit a trigger temperature between 32 °C and 40 °C that can be adjusted by the composition of the hydrogel network. The hydrogels are prepared by terpolymerizing hydrophobic …