Background
Jérémy Odent is an associate professor at University of Mons (Belgium). His research focuses at the Laboratory of Polymeric Materials and Composites are centered around the development of stimuli-responsive polymeric materials and nanocomposites of desired properties and key-functionalities as well as the possibilities sustained by advanced additive manufacturing technologies to meet the ever‐increasing demand of complex device platforms. As a means of generating parts with novel functionality, the core technology of his research mainly relies on the generation of smooth structural gradients within the 3D-printed materials.
Title
3D Printing of Functionally Programmed Soft Materials for Integrated Sensing and Actuation
Abstract
Slowly yet steadily, additive manufacturing is emerging as a powerful platform for the fabrication of soft polymeric devices with precisely controlled architectures and programmable functionalities. Beyond conventional 3D printing, the ability to spatially encode chemical composition, crosslinking density, and structural geometry offers new opportunities to integrate sensing and actuation within a single material platform. In this work, we explore this concept through two complementary approaches – For sensing, ionic-liquid-like monomers were covalently incorporated into flexible polymer networks to produce self-standing, highly conductive iontronic devices, leading to transient voltage generation with respect to the transient separation of anionic and cationic species in response to an applied mechanical load. The optimized sensors demonstrated a linear response over 0–80 kPa, rapid recovery (0.2 s), high output voltage (190 mV), and stable performance over 1000 cycles. For actuation, digital light processing was employed to fabricate gold nanosphere-doped poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels with gyroid architectures and programmed structural gradients. The interconnected porous structure enhanced light-to-thermal conversion, volumetric contraction, recovery, and bending, reaching angles above 50°. Together, these results establish additive manufacturing as a versatile route toward functionally programmed soft materials, in which sensing and actuation can be designed directly through material chemistry and architecture, opening new opportunities for adaptive and multifunctional devices.