Environmental Systems
Adaptive materials for filtration, sensing and remediation.
SAXS measurements of azobenzene lipid vesicles reveal buffer-dependent photoswitching and quantitative Z->E isomerisation by X-rays
SAXS shows that azobenzene lipid membranes undergo buffer-dependent photoswitching, enabling quantitative Z→E isomerisation measurements during soft X-ray exposure.
Gait learning for soft microrobots controlled by light fields
A Bayesian optimization + Gaussian-process learning scheme enables light-controlled soft microrobots to optimize and adapt gaits with few experiments and robustness across microrobot samples.
Heat breaks the rules at the nanoscale and scientists used it to their advantage
Nanoscale gold metamaterials can boost heat transfer across tiny gaps by up to 4×, enabling more efficient thermal management and precision heat engineering.
Multimaterial 4D printing of adaptive and reconfigurable auxetic metastructures
Multimaterial 4D printing with PLA/PCL enables auxetic metastructures whose geometry–material coupling yields tunable mechanics, energy absorption, and thermally induced reconfigurability.
Tough self-healing elastomers by molecular enforced integration of covalent and reversible networks
By molecularly enforcing mixing of reversible hydrogen-bond networks with permanent covalent crosslinks, the authors fabricate a tough dry elastomer that self-heals at room temperature.
DiffeoMorph: Learning to Morph 3D Shapes Using Differentiable Agent-Based Simulations
DiffeoMorph is an end-to-end differentiable method that learns agent-based morphogenesis rules to transform minimally patterned starts into target 3D shapes using an invariant Zernike-based shape-matching loss.
Structural and Compositional Complexities of Hierarchical Self-Assembly: a Hypergraph Approach
A hypergraph-based Blocks & Bonds formalism plus a compact Structure Code enables practical, complexity-aware description and inverse design of programmable self-assembled architectures.
Anomalous thermal and elastic properties of an epitaxial NiTi film exhibiting R-phase
Transient grating spectroscopy tracks how an epitaxial NiTi film’s shear moduli and thermal diffusivity change across an austenite–R-phase–martensite cycle, suggesting R-phase-driven thermal switching.
On the Shape Containment Problem within the Amoebot Model with Reconfigurable Circuits
It studies how amoebot particles in programmable matter can contain a desired shape without movement, proving runtime bounds and giving efficient algorithms for specific shape classes.
Shape-morphing greenhouse: design of a thermally responsive transparent 4D-printed structure
A proof-of-concept transparent 4D-printed PLA greenhouse structure was tested for thermally driven shape-morphing ventilation using bio-inspired mechanisms, showing concept potential but material and structural limits.
4D printed hydromorph biocomposites with shape change and force generation properties: progress towards structural actuation
4D-printed flax/PLA hydromorph biocomposites can be tuned to deliver water-driven shape change with blocked force and energy density comparable to wood, supporting structural actuation design.
Rotary 4D Printing of Programmable Metamaterials on Sustainable 4D Mandrel
A rotary 4D printing workflow fabricates modular, multi-material programmable mechanical metamaterials on a shape-morphing mandrel, enabling programmable stiffness and multi-DOF shape recovery.
Adaptive Collective Responses to Local Stimuli in Anonymous Dynamic Networks
A local-interaction algorithm enables agents in programmable matter to switch system-wide phases in response to dynamically appearing/disappearing stimuli, even on reconfigurable graphs.
Local Stochastic Algorithms for Alignment in Self-Organizing Particle Systems
Local stochastic, distributed rules on lattice-based self-organizing particles can produce collective alignment (or nonalignment) and also tune compression/expansion while maintaining or relaxing connectivity constraints.
4D Printing with Liquid Crystal Elastomers: Materials, Methods, and Emerging Applications
A review summarizes how 4D printing of liquid crystal elastomers enables programmable, reversible shape changes and surveys fabrication methods, integrations, and remaining challenges.
Force Characterization of Insect-Scale Aquatic Propulsion Based on Fluid-Structure Interaction
Insect-scale microrobotic swimmers with SMA-driven soft tails are force-characterized, yielding first instantaneous thrust measurements linked to fluid-structure interaction.
FUTURE OF 4D PRINTING IN SOFT ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
A 2015–2025 review synthesizes how 4D printing with stimulus-responsive materials enables programmable, adaptive soft robotics and intelligent automation, while highlighting remaining barriers to translation.
Feedback Control of a Single-Tail Bioinspired 59-mg Swimmer
An evolved FRISSHBot swimmer uses an SMA-based bimorph actuator and physics-informed design to enable feedback-controlled 2D trajectory tracking at subgram scale.
Snap-Through Thermomechanical Metamaterials for High-Performance Thermal Rectification
A snap-through thermomechanical metamaterial thermal diode using SMA springs and bistable copper strips achieves strong, passive thermal rectification with validated experiments and scalable modular stacking.
Applications and Research of 4D Printing in Material Design
4D printing integrates smart materials into additive manufacturing so cured parts can undergo programmable, stimulus-driven shape and functionality changes over time.
Acoustic Metamaterial Nanogenerator for Multi-Band Sound Insulation and Acoustic–Electric Conversion
An acoustic metamaterial nanogenerator uses multi-local resonance to deliver tunable multi-band sound insulation (up to 40 dB) while converting low-frequency sound into electricity via a TENG.
Exploring pNIPAM Lyogels: Experimental Study on Swelling Equilibria in Various Organic Solvents and Mixtures, Supported by COSMO-RS Analysis
pNIPAM lyogels show strong solvent-dependent swelling/shrinkage driven by hydrogen bonding, and COSMO-RS modeling links solvent–polymer interactions to swelling equilibria in pure solvents and mixtures.
Lactobacilli in Material Science: Sustainable Biopolymers and Self-Healing Technologies
Lactobacilli-based biofabrication is presented as a route to biodegradable biopolymers, self-repairing concrete, and antimicrobial coatings.
Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Deployable and Shape Morphing Soft Robots
Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators (PTSPAs) use a parameterized geometry generator and systematic parameter exploration to enable deployable, shape-morphing soft robot locomotion in confined spaces.