Bidirectional thermo-regulating hydrogel composite for autonomic thermal homeostasis

Gyeongsuk Park, Hyunmin Park, Junyong Seo, Jun Chang Yang, Min Kim, Bong Jae Lee and Steve Park ()
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Gyeongsuk Park: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Hyunmin Park: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Junyong Seo: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Jun Chang Yang: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Min Kim: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Bong Jae Lee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Steve Park: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Thermal homeostasis is an essential physiological function for preserving the optimal state of complex organs within the human body. Inspired by this function, here, we introduce an autonomous thermal homeostatic hydrogel that includes infrared wave reflecting and absorbing materials for improved heat trapping at low temperatures, and a porous structure for enhanced evaporative cooling at high temperatures. Moreover, an optimized auxetic pattern was designed as a heat valve to further amplify heat release at high temperatures. This homeostatic hydrogel provides effective bidirectional thermoregulation with deviations of 5.04 °C ± 0.55 °C and 5.85 °C ± 0.46 °C from the normal body temperature of 36.5 °C, when the external temperatures are 5 °C and 50 °C, respectively. The autonomous thermoregulatory characteristics of our hydrogel may provide a simple solution to people suffering from autonomic nervous system disorders and soft robotics that are susceptible to sudden temperature fluctuations.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38779-w

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