Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce the launch of the newest Special Issue of Gels, “Advances in Smart and Tough Hydrogels (2nd Edition)”, which is dedicated to recent developments in the theoretical and fundamental aspects as well as the synthesis, characterization, and applications of smart and tough gels. Within this context, a broad range of subjects will be covered, including structure and dynamics, molecular modeling and simulation, and applications. 

Since the discovery of polymeric gels, scientists have conducted in-depth explorations of chemical structures, network distributions, and functional and component regulations for hydrogels to adapt to the application of hydrogels in different fields. Typically, if you search “smart and tough hydrogels” in Google Scholar, you may discover thousands of exciting findings and great peer-reviewed publications. As the hottest topics in the field of hydrogels, both stimuli-responsive (smart) hydrogels and tough hydrogels have attracted widespread attention as biomimetic systems due to their ability to respond to subtle changes in external and internal stimuli, ranging from physical triggers to chemical triggers, or to exhibit highly mechanical strength comparable to artificial bones. Progress in this field requires an interdisciplinary effort to accomplish a more detailed understanding of the structure and interactions that define the behavior of smart and tough hydrogels, making it possible to tailor the properties of these materials. Many theoretical, experimental, and practical application challenges remain.

Since this topic is of interest to a wide audience of researchers in different fields, including (but not limited to) physical science, chemistry, materials science, mechanical engineering, biomedical and tissue engineering, etc., we believe that the launch of this topic will stimulate new research and discoveries in the field of smart and tough hydrogels. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Dong Zhang
Prof. Dr. Jintao Yang
Dr. Xiaoxia Le
Prof. Dr. Dianwen Song
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• stimuli-responsive hydrogels
• tough hydrogels
• synthesis and characterization
• molecular understanding for tough hydrogels
• sequence–structure–property relationships
• biomimetic, biological, and biomedical applications
• functional modifications

• Advances in Smart and Tough Hydrogels in Gels (11 articles)