Hydrogels: A Novel Design of Multi‐Mechanoresponsive and Mechanically Strong Hydrogels (Adv. Mater. 21/2017)

In article number 1606900, Qiang Chen, Jie Zheng, and co-workers develop a new micellar-copolymerization approach to incorporate highly hydrophobic spiropyran (SP) into a highly hydrated polymer network, resulting in SP-crosslinked poly(acrylamide-co-methyl acrylate) hydrogels that exhibit SP-induced, reversible, multi-mechanoresponsive properties in color changes and mechanical properties. This new gel system is of great interest for the design of mechanophore-based hydrogels for sensing, imaging, and display applications.