Cheng Liu, Chaowei He, Xiaobin Dai, Li-Tang Yan*, Huaping Xu*
Adv. Mater. 2025: e08549.
Can artificial polymer materials exhibit the characteristic of “evolution” over time, similar to biological tissue? The limitations arise from their inherently static nature and the absence of dynamic structures. A strategy is proposed for designing polymer materials whose phases and mechanical properties can be continuously transformed and enhanced temporally. Specifically, the polymer phases experience a sequence of transitions involving generation, separation, and fusion. Each period enhances mechanical properties in distinct and significant ways, demonstrating a mechanical evolution. This evolution is initiated through in situ polymerization within the material and can be precisely controlled using visible light. Applied to a hydrogel system, this approach achieves a record-breaking increase in Young’s modulus by over 2400-fold, from 18.5 kPa to 44.5 MPa. The findings highlight the potential for tailoring mechanical properties on demand and constructing metamaterials with multilevel moduli and composite architectures.
