Chinese team creates ‘lifelike’ hydrogel that changes shape for smart devices

Chinese researchers have developed a “lifelike” shape-changing hydrogel they say could provide a platform for next-generation developments, such as flexible tissue engineering scaffolds, brain-computer interfaces and humanlike robots.
Inspired by living organisms, the team created a light-triggered system called STERS, which uses liquid metal particles to generate slow, self-sustaining chemical reactions that allow a hydrogel to change its structure over time.
Capable of growing and changing…