Structure and Unique Functions of Anisotropic Hydrogels Comprising Uniaxially Aligned Lamellar Bilayers

In this account, we provide an overview of unique anisotropic hydrogels comprising uniaxially aligned lamellar bilayers embedded in amorphous gel matrix. Owing to their unique structures, the lamellar gels exhibit many unique functions that cannot be obtained from conventional hydrogels featuring amorphous and isotropic structures. For example, the periodical multilayer structure having interlayer spacing of several hundreds of nanometers...