Near-infrared light responsive multi-compartmental hydrogel particles synthesized through droplets assembly induced by superhydrophobic surface.

Light-responsive hydrogel particles with multi-compartmental structure are useful for applications in microreactors, drug delivery and tissue engineering because of their remotely-triggerable releasing ability and combinational functionalities. The current methods of synthesizing multi-compartmental hydrogel particles typically involve multi-step interrupted gelation of polysaccharides or complicated microfluidic procedures with limited throughput. In this study, a two-step sequential gelation process is developed to produce agarose/alginate double network multi-compartmental hydrogel particles using droplets assemblies induced by superhydrophobic surface as templates. The agarose/alginate double network multi-compartmental hydrogel particles can be formed with diverse hierarchical structures showing combinational functionalities. The synthesized hydrogel particles, when loaded with polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles that act as photothermal nanotransducers, are demonstrated to function as near-infrared (NIR) light triggerable and deformation-free hydrogel materials. Periodic NIR laser switching is applied to stimulate these hydrogel particles, and pulsatile release profiles are collected. Compared with massive reagents released from single-compartmental hydrogel particles, more regulated release profiles of the multi-compartmental hydrogel particles are observed.