Cephalopods can change their color and patterns by activating the skin chromatophores for camouflage. However, in the man-made soft material systems, it is greatly challenging to fabricate the color-change structure in the desired patterns and shapes. Herein, we employ a multi-material microgel direct ink writing (DIW) printing method to make mechanochromic double network hydrogels in arbitrary shapes. We prepare the microparticles by grinding the freeze-dried polyelectrolyte hydrogel and immobilize the microparticles in the precursor solution to produce the printing ink. The polyelectrolyte microgels contain mechanophores as the cross-linkers. We adjust the rheological and printing properties of the microgel ink by tailoring the grinding time of freeze-dried hydrogels and microgel concentration. The multi-material DIW 3D printing technique is utilized to fabricate various 3D hydrogel structures which could change into a colorful pattern in response to applied force. The microgel printing strategy shows great potential in the fabrication of the mechanochromic device with arbitrary patterns and shapes.
Keywords: 3D printing; double network hydrogels; mechanochromism; multi-material printing; rhodamine.