Smart Hydrogel Architectures for Sensors: Narrative Review
Jūratė Jolanta Petronienė, Tadas Rasimavičius, Darius Viržonis, Andrius Dzedzickis, Vytautas Bučinskas · MDPI AG · 2026
This review highlights advances in hydrogel sensors for real-time monitoring in healthcare applications.
Plain English summary
Why this matters
Key findings
- Hydrogels enable real-time monitoring of mechanical, thermal, and biochemical signals.
- Design strategies include polymer use, nanomaterial reinforcement, and crosslinking.
- Supramolecular hydrogels improve sensor parameters like mechanical resistance and ionic conductivity.
- 3D printing allows for customizable health monitoring devices.
- Carbon nanostructures enhance the electrical conductivity of sensors.
What's new
The review synthesizes recent advances in hydrogel sensor technology and highlights the integration of nanomaterials and 3D printing for customization.
Limitations
The abstract does not provide specific experimental results or data from the reviewed articles.
Commercial context
The abstract does not indicate the commercial availability of the technologies discussed.
Publication
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Publication date
- May 19, 2026
- Research type
- Article
- License
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Tags
More on Hydrogels
See all →Smart Hydrogel Systems for Skin Fibrosis: Rational Design, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Applications
This review discusses the design and therapeutic potential of smart hydrogels for treating skin fibrosis.
Smart hydrogel bioinks integrated with two-dimensional nanomaterials for cardiovascular bioprinting and atherosclerosis modeling
This review highlights the potential of smart hydrogel bioinks integrated with nanomaterials for improving cardiovascular disease modeling and bioprinting.
Multifunctional Hydrogel-Based Scaffolds: Integrating Conductive Nanomaterials for Smart Wound Healing Applications
This review highlights the potential of multifunctional hydrogel scaffolds integrated with conductive materials for advanced wound healing solutions.
Smart hydrogel dressings for advanced wound healing: from biomaterial design to microenvironment modulation
Smart hydrogel dressings are designed to enhance wound healing by modulating the microenvironment and promoting tissue regeneration.
From Smart Hydrogel Design to 4D-Printed Scaffolds: Emerging Paradigms in Precision Drug Delivery and Regenerative Wound Therapy
This review explores the design and application of smart hydrogels and 4D-printed scaffolds for drug delivery and wound healing.
Cutting-Edge Smart Hydrogel Platforms for Improved Wound Healing
Smart hydrogels enhance wound healing by responding to stimuli and integrating therapeutic agents, though challenges in scalability and regulation remain.
Recently published
Latest research →Reactive polar mesogenic self-assembly approach enables domain-programmable polymer ferroelectrics
This research introduces a method for creating flexible ferroelectric polymers with programmable polar architectures for advanced electronic applications.
A modular block-based acoustic metamaterial absorber with coiled cavities for enhanced sound absorption
This research presents a modular acoustic metamaterial with tunable sound absorption capabilities for low-frequency applications.
A Comprehensive Study on the Development of Stimuli-Responsive Smart Polymer Systems for Controlled Drug Delivery
This study highlights the potential of multi-stimulus responsive smart polymers for enhanced drug delivery systems.
Bio-inspired re-entrant honeycomb metamaterial with programmable dual-plateau mechanical response
A bio-inspired re-entrant honeycomb mechanical metamaterial is described as having a programmable dual-plateau mechanical response.