photo #7457788

THE HIGHLIGHTED PATCHES ON THE BODY FIGURE ARE EXACTLY WHERE THE HARDEST AND THICKEST GRAPHENE SHEETING AND POLYMER PATCHES ARE LOCATED. In particular, thermo-responsive hydrogels kept in an aqueous solution undergo a reversible phase transition above a critical temperature that causes a transition from a hydrated to a dehydrated state, which results in a drastic shrinking of the gel. Many studies exist on hydrogels that respond to changes in temperature while in solution, but the behavior of the dried gels in air has not been studied yet. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04191