Cell-based biosensors have become a research hotspot in biosensors and bioelectronics fields. The main feature of cell-based biosensors is the immobilization of living cell on the surface of transducers. Different types of polymers which are used as scaffolds for cell growth should be biocompatible and have reactive functional groups for further attachment of biomolecules. In this work, the cel...

Responsive hydrogels functionalized with molecular recognition agents can undergo large volume changes upon interactions with specific chemical species. These responsive hydrogels can function as chemical sensing materials if the hydrogel volumes are monitored by using devices such as photonic crystals (PhC). An important criterion of merit is the responsiveness of these sensing hydrogels. Gene...

Development of a biomimetic 3D culture system for drug screening is necessary to fully understand the in vivo environment. Previously, a self-assembling peptide hydrogel has been reported; the hydrogel exhibited physiological properties superior to a 3D cell culture matrix. In this work, further research using H9e hydrogel with HeLa cells was carried out considering H9e hydrogel's interaction w...

Pressure-Sensing Devices In article number 2300855, Yang Li, Guozhen Shen, Jong-Chul Lee, and co-workers propose a novel photocurable hydrogel to implement two-in-one wearable device with simple structure, which can quantify visualize pressure simultaneously. Incorporated wireless strategies, two integrated systems of smart patch passive sensing are demonstrated, showing the potential for timel...

Smart Anticancer Drug Nanocarriers In article number 2206813, Neralla Vijayakameswara Rao, Wei-Hung Chiang, and co-workers develop a plasma engineering of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dot (NGQD) hydrogels with robust, porous photoluminescence properties. The presence NGQDs in the hydrogel can accelerate improve loading capacity anticancer drug doxorubicin via π-π interaction, exhibits stable...

Common adhesives stick to a wide range of materials immediately after they are applied to the surfaces. To prevent indiscriminate sticking, smart adhesive materials that adhere to a specific target surface only under particular conditions are desired. Here we report a polymer hydrogel modified with both β-cyclodextrin (βCD) and 2,2'-bipyridyl (bpy) moieties (βCD-bpy gel) as a functional adhesiv...

Shape-morphing systems can be found in many areas, including smart textiles, autonomous robotics, biomedical devices, drug delivery and tissue engineering. The natural analogues of such systems are exemplified by nastic plant motions, where a variety of organs such as tendrils, bracts, leaves and flowers respond to environmental stimuli (such as humidity, light or touch) by varying internal tur...

Several kinds of biodegradable hydrogels were prepared via in situ photopolymerization of Pluronic F127/poly(ε-caprolactone) macromer and acrylic acid (AA) comonomer in aqueous medium. The swelling kinetics measurements showed that the resultant hydrogels exhibited both thermoand pH-sensitive behaviors, and that this stimuli-responsiveness underwent a fast reversible process. With increasing pH...

Shape-changing hydrogels that can bend, twist, or actuate in response to external stimuli are critical to soft robots, programmable matter, and smart medicine. Shape change in hydrogels has been induced by global cues, including temperature, light, or pH. Here we demonstrate that specific DNA molecules can induce 100-fold volumetric hydrogel expansion by successive extension of cross-links. We ...

This paper reports a new approach for constructing blood vessel-like tissues using microfluidic devices made of calcium-containing agarose hydrogel. Sodium alginate (NaA) solutions with different cell types at high densities were introduced stepwise into the hydrogel microchannel, to deposit cell-containing multiple Ca-alginate hydrogel layers on the channel surface with the help of Ca 2+ ions ...