Self-healing hydrogels

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Polymer chemistry

Natural polymers

Polymer science

Engineering

Actuator

Artificial intelligence

Composite material

Biomimetics

Soft robotics

Chemistry

Materials science

Artificial muscle

Material Design

Gelatin

Cellulose

Bacterial cellulose

Synthetic polymer

Computer science

Vinyl alcohol

Soft materials

Mechanical strength

Natural materials

Biomimetic materials

Chemical engineering

Polymer

Robot

Advanced Materials

Nature builds biological materials from limited ingredients, however, with unparalleled mechanical performances compared to artificial materials, by harnessing inherent structures across multi‐length‐scales. In contrast, synthetic material design overwhelmingly focuses on developing new compounds, and fails to reproduce the mechanical properties of natural counterparts, such as fatigue resistance. Here, a simple yet general strategy to engineer conventional hydrogels with a more than 100‐fold increase in fatigue thresholds is reported. This strategy is proven to be universally applicable to various species of hydrogel materials, including polysaccharides (i.e., alginate, cellulose), proteins (i.e., gelatin), synthetic polymers (i.e., poly(vinyl alcohol)s), as well as corresponding polymer composites. These fatigue‐resistant hydrogels exhibit a record‐high fatigue threshold over most synthetic soft materials, making them low‐cost, high‐performance, and durable alternatives to soft materials used in those circumstances including robotics, artificial muscles, etc.

Anisotropically Fatigue‐Resistant Hydrogels