Metal Ion Coordinate Polymer Networks

The viscoelastic mechanical properties of hydrogel network can be programmed using biosinspired metal-coordinate crosslinks sensitive to UV light. Depending on the metal ion used to crosslink the hydrogel, the stiffness can be increased by 1000x, decreased by 100x, or remain unchanged by UV-irradiation.

Grindy, Holten-Andersen, Bio-inspired metal-coordinate hydrogels with programmable viscoelastic material functions controlled by longwave UV light, Soft Matter, 2017.