Structured Gels: Mechanics, Responsivity and Applications (2nd Edition)
A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Analysis and Characterization".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 101
Special Issue Editors
Interests: structural hydrogels; soft robotics; 3D printing; dynamic covalent bond
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Gel-related research has seen tremendous growth in the past several decades. Higher demands on gel properties and measures for their control have arisen as gel-based materials are exposed to new interdisciplinary studies and applications. For instance, a high fatigue resistance is desired for gels that experience cyclic loadings when used as structural components in soft robots; low tortuosity and high ion diffusivity are useful for gels used as solid electrolytes and electrodes in supercapacitors and batteries; dynamic crosslinking and bonding is advantageous for gels used as tissue scaffolds or for self-healing studies. Structures of various lengths have proven to significantly impact the physical and chemical properties of gel materials both in nature and in practice. Therefore, designing gels with specific molecular functions, network complexities, microstructures and macro-architectures could yield hydrogels with advanced properties in terms of mechanics, diffusivity, sensitivity, adhesion, biocompatibility and recyclability. Recent developments have shown that by harnessing chemical synthesis and engineering controls, gels could exhibit a multitude of controllable structures that lead to significant enhancements of properties and dynamics that are infeasible with conventional hydrogel designs. This Special Issue is dedicated to studying the structure–property relationships of novel gel materials, with a focus on molecular design, network engineering and structural controls. I hope that these topics will stimulate new research and discoveries in the field of structured gels.
Dr. Mutian Hua
Prof. Dr. Shuwang Wu
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- structure–property relationship
- mechanical properties
- responsivity
- diffusivity
- sensitivity
- adhesion energy
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Related Special Issue
- Structured Gels: Mechanics, Responsivity and Applications in Gels (10 articles)
