Stomata-Inspired Intelligent High-Performance Hydrogel With on-Demand Gateable Electromagnetic-Interference Shielding.

Abstract

The development of intelligently adaptive electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials remains constrained by the inherent trade-offs among dynamic tunability, mechanical robustness, and multifunctional integration. Inspired by stomatal regulation in plant guard cells, it has engineered an intelligent poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)/MXene-silver nanowires (AgNWs) (PMA) hydrogel whose biomimetic kinematics transcend trade-offs. This novel design deliberately emulated biological principles of osmotic-like actuation via PNIPAM phase transition, dynamic microchannel reconfiguration using a zinc oxide (ZnO) template, and ion-flux-inspired electron pathways through MXene-AgNWs networks interfaced with a zinc ion (Zn²⁺) electrolyte. Such structural ingenuity enables the simultaneous, on-demand tuning of electrical conductivity, hierarchical microarchitectures, and multifunctional properties. The resulting hydrogel exhibited a remarkable dynamic EMI shielding modulation of 61.1 dB, actuated solely through hydration-governed percolation. Crucially, the divergent stimulus responses imparted an intrinsic versatility that global electrothermal shrinkage to emulate stomatal closure for EMI shielding tunability, while localized photothermal bending reproduced guard-cell kinematics for soft actuators. Simultaneously, Zn2+-riveted cross-links endowed the hydrogel with exceptional mechanical toughness of 360.6 kJ m-3, while a wrinkle-nanobridge architecture integrated high-precision sensing, retaining a gauge factor (GF) of 2.11 across a 394% deformation window. Demonstrated in wireless communication toggling and muscle-movement monitoring, this biomimetic strategy establishes a paradigm for intelligent hydrogels, offering transformative potential for smart wearables and human-machine interfaces.