Recent
advances in integrating elastomers and hydrogels have enabled
numerous emerging and promising applications in ionotronics, soft
machines, and soft robotics. A challenge has emerged to integrate
elastomers and hydrogels of intricate configurations in various manufacturing
processes. Here, a biomimetic strategy is reported to enable the integration
of elastomers and hydrogels with regulable curved profiles. To do
so, hydrophilic islands are imparted on the hydrophobic surface of
an elastomer to allow the regulation of the profiles of the precursor,
which can be cured into a hydrogel with high degree of fidelity of
the profile and robust adhesion between the hydrogel and the elastomer.
Parametric investigations pertaining to the diameter of the hydrophilic
island and the volume of the liquid are first carried out to construct
the designing space, which is then applied to a hydrogel precursor.
An ionotronic luminescent array that can selectively light up in response
to various extents of compression is fabricated. A soft tunable lens
whose focal length can be mediated by the profile and mechanical stretch
is also demonstrated. The proposed approach paves avenues for integrated
elastomer–hydrogel hybrid systems.
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