Near‐Infrared Light‐Driven Shape‐Morphing of Programmable Anisotropic Hydrogels Enabled by MXene Nanosheets

Herein, we report near‐infrared (NIR) light‐driven shape‐morphing of programmable MXene‐containing anisotropic hydrogel actuators that are fabricated through in situ free‐radical copolymerization of a judiciously designed MXene nanomonomer with thermosensitive hydrogel network. A low electric field (few V mm−1) was found to enable a spatial distribution of MXene nanosheets and hence introduce anisotropy into the hydrogel network. Programmable anisotropic hydrogel actuators were developed by controlling ITO electrode pattern, direct‐current (DC) electric field direction and mask‐assisted photopolymerization. As a proof‐of‐concept, we demonstrate NIR light‐driven shape morphing of the MXene‐containing anisotropic hydrogel into various shapes and devise a four‐arm soft gripper that can perform distinct photomechanical functions such as grasping, lifting/lowering down and releasing an object upon sequential NIR light exposure. Programmable anisotropic hydrogel actuators with near‐infrared (NIR) light‐driven shape morphing properties were fabricated through in situ free‐radical copolymerization of a judiciously designed photopolymerizable MXene nanomonomer with thermosensitive PNIPAM‐based smart hydrogels. A shape‐programmed four‐arm soft gripper was demonstrated to perform distinct photomechanical functions under sequential exposure to spatiotemporal NIR light.