A supramolecular hydrogel was synthesized by using tetra(4-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)ethylene (TPPE) as AIE luminogen. The gel not only featured self-healing performance, but also exhibited the temperature-responsive fluorescence with thermochromism.

A strain sensor with photochromism and electrochromism was designed and fabricated based on the composite of MoO_3−x and PEDOT:PSS; the strain sensor exhibited the performance of fast light printing and electroerasing.

In this work, through the coordination of C₃ symmetric azopyridine ligands and Ag(I), coordination polymers with azo groups on the main chain were prepared. The trans coordination polymer formed an organogel with a network of nanofibers at low critical gelation concentrations, and it exhibited the abilities of self-healing and multi-stimuli response to heating, light, mechanical shearing, and chemicals due to the presence of dynamic coordinating bonds. On the other hand, the cis coordination polymer was found to assemble into nanoparticles to give a responsive colloid, which can produce fibrous precipitation in several days upon visible light irradiation due to the isomerization of the azo groups. This work provides a novel example for the design of a multi-responsive organogel and colloid based on the structural transformation of coordination polymers.

Fluorescent hydrogels with fast and reversible responses have attracted extensive attention, and it remains a challenge to design multistimuli-responsive fluorescent hydrogel through a facile and versatile method. Meanwhile, the segmental motion in hydrogels is of significance for the various functions of hydrogels such as chemical reactivity, self-healing, and mechanical strength, etc., however, it is difficult and complicated to in situ investigate the segmental motion under different conditions. In this work, a multistimuli-responsive fluorescent hydrogel was designed and fabricated by introducing a tetraphenylethylene (TPE) derivative as a nonaggregated crosslinker in the gel network. Since the intermolecular rotation of TPE at the crosslinking point was directly integrated with the dynamic conformational transition of the macromolecular network, the mobility of macromolecular segments can be monitored by the fluorescence intensity of the hydrogel. The prepared hydrogel has promising fluorescence responses to temperature, pH, metal ions, and hydrogen bonding agents, and characterization of the fluorescence and the chain segmental motion showed that the weaker the mobility of the network macromolecular chain is, the stronger the fluorescence intensity is. Furthermore, due to the multistimuli-responsive fluorescence of the hydrogel, such fluorescent hydrogels can be designed as reversible patterning displays and biomimetic color/shape adjustable actuators, with various potential applications.