Electrochemically fully functional, edible supercapacitors are presented. All materials involved in generating the supercapacitors are explicitly originated from edible and nontoxic food products, including activated charcoal, seaweed, cheese, polyelectrolyte drink, and so on. The edible supercapacitors are demonstrated to kill disease‐causing bacteria in vitro and to power a commercial snake camera, which renders huge potential to be used in novel biomedical devices.

An interpenetrating polymer network (IPN), chlorophyllin-incorporated environmentally responsive hydrogel was synthesized and exhibited the following features: enhanced mechanical properties, upper critical solution temperature (UCST) swelling behavior, and promising visible-light responsiveness. Poor mechanical properties are known challenges for hydrogel-based materials. By forming an interpenetrating network between polyacrylamide (PAAm) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymer networks, the mechanical properties of the synthesized IPN hydrogels were significantly improved compared to hydrogels made of a single network of each polymer. The formation of the interpenetrating network was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), the analysis of glass transition temperature, and a unique UCST responsive swelling behavior, which is in contrast to the more prevalent lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behaviour of environmentally responsive hydrogels. The visible-light responsiveness of the synthesized hydrogel also demonstrated a positive swelling behavior, and the effect of incorporating chlorophyllin as the chromophore unit was observed to reduce the average pore size and further enhance the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. This interpenetrating network system shows potential to serve as a new route in developing "smart" hydrogels using visible-light as a simple, inexpensive, and remotely controllable stimulus.

Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) has been a well‐known stimuli–responsive material and has been used in multiple novel applications. One of the key attributes to make the hydrogel more attractive is to control the response time and temperature. This work focused on comparing the physical properties, such as response time, transition temperature, heat of fusion, and mechanical strength, of macroporous and microporous PNIPAAm hydrogels, respectively. It was found that the macroporous hydrogels synthesized from a low‐temperature polymerization with addition of tetramethyl orthosilicate exhibited a faster response time and superior mechanical strength. Furthermore, to modulate the transition temperature, both the macroporous and microporous hydrogels were subjected to different qualities of media by introducing a cosolvent (methanol) or an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate). Interestingly, addition of a cosolvent demonstrated a more pronounced effect on the macroporous hydrogel, whereas the surfactant resulted in a more pronounced effect on the microporous hydrogel. Such results revealed that based on their porosity; there were appreciable differences when the PNIPAAm hydrogels interacted with media molecules. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42776.