Extreme Soft Materials Laboratory

Soft materials are materials of choice in diverse modern technologies such as tissue adhesives, bioelectronics, and soft robots. In all these technologies, the mechanical and physical properties of soft materials play an indispensable role, which are governed by phenomena that span across different length scales, from nanometers (polymer chains), to mesoscales (network topology), up to macroscales (bulk materials). Currently, a barrier between these different disciplines prevents a cross-scale understanding, thereby limiting the space for reaching extreme properties of soft materials.

The research in Lin Research Group, at the intersection of solid mechanics, polymer science, and advanced manufacturing, aims to understand the processing-structure-property relationships of soft materials, thereby pushing the limit of mechanical and physical properties of soft materials. Our mission is to leverage extreme soft materials for developing next-generation technologies including in-situ hydrogel bioelectronics, physics-empowered tactile robots, and high-precision sperm selection.

We have PhD openings in the area of mechanics, polymers, electronics, and robots. For applicants who are interested in joining our group, please contact Professor Lin via email at linshaot@msu.edu.

News

Featured Videos

[Aug 2025][ [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu is selected for attending 2025 Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering workshop, to be hosted at MIT. Link

[July 2025] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu is selected among the top 3 students for giving an invited talk at 2025 GRC Science of Adhesion. Link

[June 2025] [News] Our group receives the prestigious ACS Petroleum Research Fund, entitled "Strain-Programmable Particle Transport in Organogels". Hearty Congrats!

[June 2025] [Paper] Our group is invited by Nature Water to write a perspective "Capturing Water from Air in An Economical and Stable Way". Link

[May 2025] [Service] We successfully organized a NSF-funded one-day University-Industry Workshop "High-Throughput Soft Material Development" at MSU, engaging more than 50 participants from more than 10 universities and industries. Link

[May 2025] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu won the Best Poster Award in the Engineering Graduate Research Symposium. We are truly proud of you. Link

[April 2025] [News] Our invention of Photoelastic Polymer Sensor is highlighted by MSU Technology Publisher and WILX.

[April 2025] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu, undergraduate student Parth Singh and I attended the 2025 MSU Innovation Celebration, highlighting our patented technology on Physics-Empowered Vision-Based Tactile Gel-Sensor. Link

[March 2025] [Paper] Our paper "Mechano-Diffusion of Particles in Stretchable Hydrogels" is just published in Soft Matter. This is a joint work with Prof. Chenglin Wu at TAMU and Prof. Zhaojian Li at MSU. Hearty congrats to Chuwei Ye, Congjie Wei, Jiabin Liu, and Tsz Hung Wong. Thank the efforts from Prof. Xinyue Liu at MSU and Prof. Ziyou Song a UMich. Also, Congrats Jiabin's image of diffusion pattern in a deformed hydrogel layer selected as Inside Front Cover. Link

[March 2025] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu won the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Mechanical Engineering for 2024-25. This is a highly prestigious recognition, with only one being awarded for each year.

[Feb 2025] [Paper] Our group is invited by Science to write a perspective "Hot and Cold Hydrogel with Still Water". Link

[Feb 2025] [Paper] PhD student Chuwei Ye's co-first-authored paper "Torsion-Mediated Instabilities in Confined Elastic Layers" is accepted by Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. This is a joint collaboration with Prof. Tal Cohen at MIT. Hearty Congrats! Link

[Feb 2025] [News] PhD student Tsz Hong, Wong passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. Congrats!

[Jan 2025] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" in the MAE Colloquium at Cornell University. Link

[Jan 2025] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" in the Corporate Technology Webinar series.

[Jan 2025] [News] Our group receives another NSF grant titled "Collaborative Research: Mechanics of End-Linked Polymer Networks with Strain-Induced Crystallization Regulated by Topological Defects". This is a joint project in collaboration with Prof. Ruobing Bai at Northeastern University. Look forward to the collaboration. Link

[Jan 2025] [Paper] PhD student Jiabin Liu's first-authored paper "Pressure-sensitive in-situ underwater adhesives" is published in Communication Physics. Congrats! Link

[Dec 2024] [News] Our group receives the 2024 Fall MTRAC AgBio Starter Grant, entitled "Tactile-Integrated Intelligent Vacuum System for Efficient Robotic Tree Fruit Harvesting ". This is a joint project in collaboration with Prof. Zhaojian Li within MSU.

[Dec 2024] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" in the Symposium on Frontiers in Nano, Heat, Energy, and Water in honor of Prof. Gang Chen's 60th birthday.

[Oct 2024] [Paper] PhD student Jiabin Liu's first-authored paper "Fatigue-Resistant Mechanoresponsive Color-Changing Hydrogels for Vision-Based Tactile Robots" is published in Advanced Materials. Congrats! Link

[Oct 2024] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" at the MSU Robotics and Control Seminar. Link

[Sep 2024] [News] Our recent NSF grant on Tactile Gel-Robots and Nature Communications paper on Polymeric Thermal Switch are highlight on MSU Engineering Social, MSU Today, ROBOT REPORT, Tech Xplore.

[Sep 2024] [Paper] PhD student Tsz Hung Wong's first-authored book chapter "Extreme Mechanics of Hydrogels Toward In Situ Hydrogel Bioelectronics" is online. Congrats! Link

[Aug 2024] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" in the session of EML 10th Anniversary Symposium at 2024 SES Annual Technical Meeting. Link

[Aug 2024] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Strain-programmable Particle Diffusion in Stretchable Polymeric Medium" in the session of Bio-Inspired Soft Composites: Structures, Mechanics, and Applications at 2024 SES Annual Technical Meeting. Link

[Aug 2024] [Service] Dr. Lin, together with Prof. Walter Voit at UT Dallas, Prof. Tao Xie at Zhejiang University, Prof. Xinyue Liu at Michigan State University, Prof. Hong Chen at Sichuan University, Prof. Heling Wang at Tsinghua University, Prof. Jie Zheng at the University of Arkon, Prof. Zhao Qin at Syracuse University, Prof. Xiaoguang Dong at Vanderbilt University, and Prof. Xue Feng at Tsinghua University organized a session on "Extreme Mechanics of Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" at 2024 SES Annual Technical Meeting at Hangzhou China. Link

[Aug 2024] [News] Our group receives a NSF grant, entitled "Physics-empowered Vision-based Tactile Gel-Robots for Multi-physical Perception and Ultra-gentle Manipulation". This is a joint project in collaboration with Prof. Wei Li at Stony Brook University and Prof. Yu She at Purdue University. Look forward to the collaboration. Link

[Aug 2024] [News] Our group receives a grant from U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center on "Revealing the Design Principles of Extremely Tough and Stretchable Fiber-reinforced Hydrogel Composites". Hearty Congrats.

[Aug 2024] [Talk] Dr. Lin gave an invited talk titled "Printable Superabsorbent Paste for In Situ Adhesives Towards Underwater Robotic Repair" at 2024 ICCES. Link

[July 2024] [Paper] PhD student Chuwei Ye published his paper entitled "A Mechano-diffusion Characterization Platform for Probing Strain-programmable Nanoparticle Diffusion in Hydrogels" in MRS Communications. This is an invited article collection for Early Career Materials Researcher. Link

[July 2024] [Paper] Our paper entitled "Reversible two-way tuning of thermal conductivity in an end-linked star-shaped thermoset" is published in Nature Communications. Congrats! Link

[June 2024] [News] Our group receives the NSF Early Career Award on "Multiscale Mechanics of Particle Transport in Soft Active Materials". Hearty Congrats. Link

[June 2024] [News] PhD student Chuwei Ye won the Exploration Level Award for the 2024 MTRAC AgBio Innovation Challenge. Hearty Congrats! This is a project collaborating with Dr. Zhaojian Li at MSU. Link

[June 2024] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu won the Inspiration Level Award for the 2024 MTRAC AgBio Innovation Challenge. Hearty Congrats! This is a project collaborating with Dr. Zhaojian Li at MSU. Link

[June 2024] [Paper] PhD student Jiabin Liu published her first paper entitled "Strain-engineered Particle Diffusion in Uniaxially Deformed Polymer Networks" in Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids. Hearty Congrats! Link

[May 2024] [Talk] Dr Lin gave an Invited talk "Impact of Topological Defects on Strain-induced Crystallization and Solid-state Cooling in Elastocaloric Polymers" at AmeriMech Symposium. PhD student Jiabin Liu gave a poster presentation on "Strain-programmable Particle Diffusivity in Soft Materials". Great to connect with experts and pioneers in the field of fracture of soft materials. Link

[April 2024] [Paper] Dr. Lin's co-authored paper entitled "Control of polymers' amorphous-crystalline transition for hydrogel bioelectronics miniaturization and multifunctional integration" is published on Nature Communications. Congrats! Link

[March 2024] [Talk] Invited talk "Mucus-mimicking Selective Permeable Hydrogels" by the Symposium of Biological Materials Science at TMS 2024.

[Feb 2024] [Outreach] As part of our University-Industry Soft Material Technology workshop series, we invited Dr. Hyunwoo Yuk, Founder and CTO of biomedical device startup SanaHeal, to give an invited talk on "Bioadhesives Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications: Design, Development, and Bench-to-Bedside Translation" in Mechanical Engineering at MSU.

[Dec 2023] [Teaching] Dr. Lin completed his first graduate-level class, ME 921 Nonlinear Elasticity, with an enrollment of 15 graduate students rated 4.6/5.0. Glad to see students actively engaging in the class and applying the gained knowledge to their research projects.

[Dec 2023] [Paper] Dr. Lin's co-first-authored paper entitled "An Elastomer with Ultrahigh Strain-induced Crystallization" is published on Science Advances. Congrats! Link

[Nov 2023] [Paper] Dr. Lin's co-authored paper entitled "Plausible Photomolecular Effect Leading to Water Evaporation Exceeding the Thermal Limit" is published on PNAS. Congrats! Link

[Nov 2023] [Service] Dr. Lin co-chaired the Mechanics of Soft Materials Symposium at 2023 IMECE.

[Oct 2023] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu received the 2023 Haythornthwaite Foundation Student Travel Award to attend IMECE 2023. Hearty Congrats!

[Aug 2023] [Talk] Invited talk "Strain-programmable Hopping Diffusion in Hydrogels" by the Session of Surface, Interface, and Coating Materials at ACS Fall 2023.

[Aug 2023] [News] Dr. Lin and PhD student Jiabin Liu, together with Dr. Thamira Hindo at Lansing Community College, successfully completed the NSF-funded Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site on "Mechano-chromic Soft Materials for Tactile Sensing". Congrats!

[Aug 2023] [News] Undergraduate students Clara Liao and Aditya Swarnkar successfully completed the 13th annual Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experience (Mid-SURE). Aditya Swarnkar's poster was selected for exhibition in the Brady Hall at MSU. Congrats! Link

[Aug 2023] [News] Dr. Lin, as the lead PI, receives a NSF grant on Chemo-Physics and Molecular Design of In-situ Hydrogel-MXene Biosensors. This is a project collaborating with Dr. Chenglin Wu at Missouri S&T and Dr. Xinyue Liu at MSU.

[July 2023] [Service] Dr. Lin serves as the instructor for the 2023 Detroit Area Pre-college Engineering Program (DAPCEP, an institution that brings black students from the Detroit Area). Many thanks for the assistance from undergraduate mentors and members in Lin Research Group, as well as the wonderful organization by the K-12 Engineering Education & Outreach Office. Link

[June 2023] [Service] Dr. Lin serves as the instructor for the 2023 High School Engineering Institute (HSEI, a residential program to give in-depth experiences in engineering majors for high school students). Many thanks for the assistance from undergraduate mentors and members in Lin Research Group, as well as the wonderful organization by the K-12 Engineering Education & Outreach Office. Link

[May 2023] [Talk] Invited virtual talk "Extreme Soft Materials for Long-term Healthcare and Sustainable Water Harvesting" in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering at Tsinghua University.

[May 2023] [News] PhD student Jiabin Liu passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. Congrats!

[April 2023] [Service] A group of K12 students and their parents in the local area of Lansing visited my lab. Glad to see their interests in diving into the mechanics and science of polymers.

[April 2023] [News] Undergraduate student Sean Blanchard was selected for the 2022-23 Undergraduate Student Service Award. Hearty congrats!

[April 2023] [News] PhD student Tsz Hung Wong has been selected to attend the BioPACIFIC MIP MIP 2023 Summer School at UCSB and UCLA. Huge congrats! Link

[April 2023] [News] Our work on unusually absorbent hydrogels is highlighted by MIT News. Link

[Mar 2023] [Paper] The first research paper in Lin Research Group entitled "Unusual temperature dependence of water sorption in semi-crystalline hydrogels" has been accepted for publication in Advanced Materials. Huge congrats!

[Jan 2023] [News] PhD student Chuwei Ye passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. Congrats!

[Jan 2023] [Service] Dr. Lin is elected as the new editor of the ASME Technical Committee of Mechanics of Soft Materials. Congrats!

[Dec 2022] [Teaching] Dr. Lin successfully completed his first-semester teaching on Dynamics. 81 students, 15 homework, 26 lecture notes, 3 semester exams, and 1 final exam. What a memorable teaching experience!

[Dec 2022] [News] Dr. Lin received the Trifecta Initiative Facilitating Funds Award. Congrats! Link

[Nov 2022] [Talk] Invited Talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Design" at Dow in Midland, MI.

[Oct 2022] [Service] Dr. Lin, together with Jie Zheng at the University of Arkon, Zhao Qin at Syracuse University, Xiaoguang Dong at Vanderbilt University, Aniruddh Vashisth at the University of Washington organized a session on Extreme Mechanics of Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design at SES2022 at Texas A&M Engineering. What high-quality talks! Link

[Oct 2022] [News] Our lab at Anthony Hall is finally ready to move in. Such great news to share!

[Sep 2022] [News] Chuwei's research paper entitled "Smart Steering Sleeve (S3): A Non-Intrusive and Integrative Sensing Platform for Driver Physiological Monitoring" has been published in Sensors. Congrats! Link

[Sep 2022] [Talk] Invited Talk "Polymer-network Design off Hydrogels for Fatigue-resistant Hydrogel Coatings" in the session of Thin Films and Coatings Technology in KLA Instruments.

Before Joining MSU

[Aug 2022] [Paper] My co-authored paper "Sporopollenin-inspired Design and Synthesis of Robust Polymeric Materials" is accepted in Communications Chemistry.

[Aug 2022] [Service] I was invited to join the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing as the Youth Editor. Link

[Aug 2022] [Paper] My first-authored paper "An extreme toughening mechanism for soft materials" is published in Soft Matter and selected as the Front Cover. Link.

[June 2022] [Service] I am thrilled to share my new role as Editorial Board Member with the journal Giant. Link

[June 2022] [Paper] My first-authored paper "Nanostructured artificial-muscle fibres" is published in Nature Nanotechnology. Link

[May 2022] [Service] I will co-organize a symposium, "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-Network Design", in the coming SES meeting at Texas A&M Engineering Experimental Station.

[April 2022] [Position] I am thrilled to share that I have decided to join Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, starting in Fall 2022.

[April 2022] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design" in the Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (CFSM) Seminar Series. Link

[Feb 2022] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-Network Design" in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

[Feb 2022] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-Network Design" in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University at Buffalo.

[Feb 2022] [Paper] My first-authored paper on "Fracture and fatigue of entangled and unentangled polymer networks" is published in Extreme Mechanics letter. Here is the 50 days' free access.

[Feb 2022] [Service] I am promoted as an associated editor for the journal section Gels at Frontiers in Soft Matter.

[Jan 2022] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-Network Design" in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT Dallas.

[Jan 2022] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-Network Design" in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University.

[Jan 2022] [Talk] Thank Prof. Aniruddh Vashisth's kind introduction. I gave a talk on "Extreme Soft Material by Polymer-Network Design" in the course Advanced Composite: Design and Manufacturing at the University of Washington.

[Dec 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Properties of Soft Material by Polymer-Network Design" by Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Drexel University.

[Dec 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme Soft Material by Design" by Department of Materials Science and Engineering at National University of Singapore.

[Dec 2021] [Talk] Thank Prof. Tal Cohen's invitation! I gave a talk on "Extreme Properties of Soft Material by Polymer-Network Design" in her group at MIT.

[Dec 2021] [Paper] My co-authored paper "Bioinspired 2D Isotropically Fatigue-resistant Hydrogels " is published in Advanced Materials.

[Oct 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Fracture and fatigue of ideal polymer networks" by MRSECs of Princeton University and University of Delaware. Link

[Oct 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Inflatable robots in health care" by MIT HORIZON. Link

[Sep 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Extreme properties of soft materials by network design" by Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

[Aug 2021] [Paper] My co-authored paper "A soft neuroprosthetic hand providing simultaneous myoelectric control and tactile feedback" is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. Video

[Aug 2021] [Service] I am invited to chair the session on "Physics of biopolymers and bioinspired materials" in Virtual Polymer Physics Symposium 2021 supported by APS. Link

[July 2021] [Paper] My first-authored paper "Fracture and fatigue of ideal polymer network " is online in Extreme Mechanics Letters.

[June 2021] [Paper] My co-authored paper "Anisotropically fatigue-resistant hydrogels" is published in Advanced Materials.

[May 2021] [Paper] My first-authored paper "Stretchable anti-fogging tapes for diverse transparent materials" is accepted by Advanced Functional Materials.

[May 2021] [Talk] I am humbled and honored to got the chance to present our recent projects on fracture and fatigue of polymer networks in the Virtual IUTAM SYMPOSIUM. Video

[April 2021] [Paper] My co-authored paper "Magnetic Living Hydrogels for Intestinal Localization, Retention, and Diagnosis" is published in Advanced Functional Materials.

[April 2021] [Press] My co-lead work on the design of lobster-inspired fatigue-resistant hydrogels is featured by Matter Cover, MIT News, and Nature Highlights.

[April 2021] [Paper] My co-first authored paper "Strong fatigue-resistant nanofibrous hydrogels inspired by lobster underbelly" is published in Matter.

[April 2021] [Paper] My co-authored review paper "Soft materials by design: unconventional polymer networks give extreme properties" is published in Chemical Reviews.

[Feb 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Design, characterization, and manufacturing of soft materials towards the convergence of human and environment", Mechanical Engineering at University of Houston.

[Jan 2021] [Talk] Invited talk "Bioinspired design of fatigue-resistant hydrogels towards hydrogel adhesions", EASF forum. Video

[Dec 2020] [Talk] Thank Prof. Chenfeng Ke's invitation! I gave a talk on the design of fatigue-resistant hydrogel adhesions in his group at Dartmouth College.

[Dec 2020] [Service] It is my honor to chair the poster session of "Soft Materials and Biomaterials" at the 2020 MRS Fall Meeting.

[Nov 2020] [Paper] Our new paper "Fracture of polymer networks with topological defects" is published in Physical Review E.

[Nov 2020] [Service] Thank Prof. Jianfeng Zang's kind invitation. I will be the guest editor for the second issue of "Soft Materials and Systems" of Journal Polymers.

[July 2020] [Service] Thanks for the invitation from the Journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI. We are launching an open-access article collection on " Extreme Mechanics of Soft Active Materials for Soft Robotics". Thank Prof. Guoying Gu, Prof. Stephan Rudykh, and Prof. Ruobing Bai for your efforts to make this happen!

[July 2020] [Recognization] Thank Prof. Zheng Jia, Prof. Teng Li, and Prof. Zhigang Suo's kind invitation for leading the iMechanica journal club discussion in July 2020. Taking this opportunity, we summarize our and others' efforts on principles, experiments, and applications of fatigue-resistant hydrogels.

[June 2020] [Service] We are launching the Engineering and Applied Science Forum for Ph.D., Postdoc, and Young faculty (EASF). If you are interested in giving a talk, please visit our website and fill the speaker form. EASF is a weekly webinar at 10 am (EST) every Sunday. Zoom ID: 95836152500.

[April 2020] [Talk] Invited Talk "Towards hydrogel machines via the design, integration, and functionalization of tissue-like hydrogels", Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee.

[Feb 2020] [Paper] Our new paper "Fatigue-resistant hydrogel adhesion of hydrogels" is published in Nature Communications. This work is selected as the 2020 Top 50 Chemistry and Materials Sciences Articles.

[Feb 2020] [Talk] Invited Talk "Extreme properties of hydrogels for merging humans and machines", Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University.