A new review(doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supmat.2026.100140) in Supramolecular Materials shows that biomedical hydrogels may become stronger, more reliable and more adaptable when researchers design their internal architecture, rather than focusing only on chemical composition. Hydrogels are water-rich polymer networks that combine the structural integrity of a solid with the permeability and molecular mobility of a liquid. These properties make them valuable for tissue engineering, wearable electronics, bioelectronic interfaces and controlled drug delivery. However, most synthetic hydrogels are randomly crosslinked and structurally homogeneous. Hence, they can concentrate stress at weak points, lack defined routes for transporting water, ions or therapeutic molecules, and lose mechanical or electrical performance during deformation.

In the review, researchers from Nanjing University, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology and Nantong University propose an architecture-based framework to address these limitations.

“We define hydrogels with high-order structures as materials in which deliberate organization across molecular, nanoscale, mesoscale and network levels govern material properties and biological functions,“ explains corresponding author Bin Xue. “Chemistry provides the building blocks, but architecture determines how those building blocks work together. By organizing a hydrogel across several length scales, we can create and regulate pathways for force transmission, molecular transport and biological signaling that a random network cannot provide.”

The researchers mapped four principal construction routes.

• Phase separation creates distinct domains that can distribute loads and form continuous transport channels.
• Molecular self-assembly produces fibers or aggregates that guide stress transfer and dynamic rearrangement.
• Nanocomposite integration reinforces networks and helps preserve conductive pathways, while polymer crystallization creates strong physical crosslinks.
• Combining dynamic molecular interactions with phase-separated, nanocomposite or crystalline domains can generate coordinated functions that are difficult to achieve through a single strategy.

“Such architectures could help wearable sensors retain signal pathways during stretching, regulate drug release, control water and ion transport, and present cells with more precise mechanical and biochemical cues,” adds Xue.

Further, the researchers identified obstacles to clinical translation. “High-order structures can change during dehydration, exposure to physiological fluids, oxidation or repeated loading, and small processing variations can alter the final architecture,” says Xue. “More reproducible and scalable manufacturing will require tighter control of phase evolution, alignment, and heat and mass transport. Automated experimentation, multiscale modeling and AI-assisted design may help predict how structure, stability and biomedical performance evolve together over time.”

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.supmat.2026.100140

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supmat.2026.100140

Funding information

This research is supported mainly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. T2322010, 12304250, T2225016, 12574222), the AI & AI for Science Project of Nanjing University (Grant No. 020514380343), the Research Project of Jinan Microecological Biomedicine Shandong Laboratory (Grant No. JNL-2025010B).

About Supramolecular Materials

Supramolecular Materials is a publication of peer-reviewed research. It covers all aspects of these materials, which are based on supramolecular interactions or self-assembly. The journal welcomes submissions of research articles/communications, perspectives/concepts, and reviews on both fundamental insight into supramolecular interactions, and demonstrations of functional supramolecular systems.