Concentric ice-templating of ultracompressible tough hydrogels with bioinspired circumferentially aligned architecture

This study introduces a concentric ice-templating strategy to fabricate ultracompressible, tough poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels with circumferentially aligned microstructures inspired by natural load-bearing tissues. The resulting hydrogels exhibit exceptional fatigue resistance, crack tolerance, and recoverability under extreme cyclic deformation, while maintaining high water content. By controlling ice growth direction, the authors demonstrate tunable anisotropic mechanical properties that enable applications ranging from soft robotic actuators to durable hydrogel components operating under repeated mechanical loading and pressurization.