Owing to their water-rich structures, which are similar to those of biological tissues, hydrogels have long been regarded as promising scaffolds for artificial tissues and organs. However, in terms of the structural anisotropy, most synthetic hydrogels are substantially different from biological systems. Synthetic hydrogels are usually composed of randomly oriented three-dimensional polymer networks whereas biological systems adopt anisotropic structures with hierarchically integrated building units. Such anisotropic structures often play essential roles in biological systems to exhibit particular functions. In this context, anisotropic hydrogels provide an entry point for exploring biomimetic applications of hydrogels. Reflecting these aspects, an increasing number of studies on anisotropic hydrogels have been reported recently. This Minireview highlights the use and perspectives of these anisotropic hydrogels, particularly focusing on their preparation, structures, and applications.

Fluids that contain ordered nanostructures with periodic distances in the visible-wavelength range, anomalously exhibit structural colours that can be rapidly modulated by external stimuli. Indeed, some fish can dynamically change colour by modulating the periodic distance of crystalline guanine sheets cofacially oriented in their fluid cytoplasm. Here we report that a dilute aqueous colloidal dispersion of negatively charged titanate nanosheets exhibits structural colours. In this ‘photonic water', the nanosheets spontaneously adopt a cofacial geometry with an ultralong periodic distance of up to 675 nm due to a strong electrostatic repulsion. Consequently, the photonic water can even reflect near-infrared light up to 1,750 nm. The structural colour becomes more vivid in a magnetic flux that induces monodomain structural ordering of the colloidal dispersion. The reflective colour of the photonic water can be modulated over the entire visible region in response to appropriate physical or chemical stimuli.

The construction of hierarchical nanostructures with precise morphological and dimensional control has been one of the ultimate goals of contemporary materials science and chemistry, and the emulation of tailor-made nanoscale superstructures realized in the nature, using artificial building blocks, poses outstanding challenges. Herein we report a one-pot strategy to precisely synthesize hierarchical nanostructures through an in-situ initiation-growth process from a liquid crystalline block copolymer. The assembly process, analogous to living chain polymerization, can be triggered by small-molecule, macromolecule or even nanoobject initiators to produce various hierarchical superstructures with highly uniform morphologies and finely tunable dimensions. Because of the high degree of controllability and predictability, this assembly strategy opens the avenue to the design and construction of hierarchical structures with broad utility and accessibility.