Self‐Growing Organic Materials

Abstract

The growth of living systems is ubiquitous. Living organisms can continually update their sizes, shapes, and properties to meet various environmental challenges. Such a capability is also demonstrated by emerging self‐growing materials that can incorporate externally provided compounds to grow as living organisms. In this Minireview, we summarize these materials in terms of six aspects. First, we discuss their essential characteristics, then describe the strategies for enabling crosslinked organic materials to self‐grow from nutrient solutions containing polymerizable compounds. The developed examples are grouped into five categories based on their molecular mechanisms. We then explain the mechanism of mass transport within polymer networks during growth, which is critical for controlling the shape and morphology of the grown products. Afterwards, simulation models built to explain the interesting phenomena observed in self‐growing materials are discussed. The development of self‐growing materials is accompanied by various applications, including tuning bulk properties, creating textured surfaces, growth‐induced self‐healing, 4D printing, self‐growing implants, actuation, self‐growing structural coloration, and others. These examples are then summed up. Finally, we discuss the opportunities brought by self‐growing materials and their facing challenges.

Thermo-growing ion clusters enabled healing strengthening and tough adhesion for highly reliable skin electronics

“…To date, self-growth of synthetic materials has aroused wide attention and was mainly achieved by mechanical or thermal training. 17 For example, Matsuda et al developed a self-growing double-network hydrogel based on mechanoradical polymerization. 18 Specifically, the brittle network breaks and generates free radicals at broken ends under mechanical training, which triggers the polymerization of monomers supplied from the environment to form a new network, and results in the growth and strengthening of the hydrogels.…”

“…To date, self-growth of synthetic materials has aroused wide attention and was mainly achieved by mechanical or thermal training. 17 For example, Matsuda et al . developed a self-growing double-network hydrogel based on mechanoradical polymerization.…”