Thermo‐responsive hydrogels can generate the actuation force through volumetric transitions in response to temperature changes. However, their weak mechanical properties and fragile actuation performance limit robust applications. Existing approaches to enhance these properties have typically depended on additional components, leading to an unavoidable interference to the actuation performance. In this work, robust thermo‐responsive hydrogels are fabricated through solvent engineering. A particular solvent, N‐methylformamide, interacts affinitively with the carbonyl group of N‐isopropylacrylamide monomer, solubilizes the monomer with extremely high concentration, stabilizes chain propagation during polymerization, and greatly increases chain lengths and entanglements of the resulting polymer. The synthesized hydrogels are highly elastic, strong, and tough, displaying remarkable thermo‐responsive contractile actuation. The simple synthetic process can broaden its applicability in designing robust functional hydrogel applications.

中文翻译：

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热响应水凝胶的溶剂工程促进强而大的收缩驱动


热响应水凝胶可以通过响应温度变化的体积转变产生驱动力。然而，它们较弱的机械性能和脆弱的驱动性能限制了稳健的应用。现有的增强这些特性的方法通常依赖于额外的组件，导致对驱动性能不可避免的干扰。在这项工作中，通过溶剂工程制造了坚固的热响应水凝胶。一种特殊的溶剂，N-甲基甲酰胺，与N-异丙基丙烯酰胺单体的羰基发生亲和作用，以极高的浓度溶解单体，稳定聚合过程中的链增长，并大大增加所得聚合物的链长和缠结。合成的水凝胶具有高弹性、坚固性和韧性，表现出显着的热响应收缩驱动。简单的合成过程可以扩大其在设计稳健的功能性水凝胶应用中的适用性。