Stimuli-Responsive Functional Gels and Soft Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Stimuli-responsive functional gels represent a rapidly expanding class of soft materials capable of dynamically adapting their physical, chemical, and functional properties in response to external stimuli such as electric fields, humidity, temperature, light, and the chemical environment. Owing to their adaptive behavior, these systems are increasingly recognized as key components for next-generation functional and smart technologies.

This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality contributions addressing the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of responsive gel-based systems, including hydrogels, aerogels, xerogels, and related soft functional materials. The scope of this issue encompasses both fundamental and applied studies, with particular attention paid to structure–property relationships governing stimulus-induced responses such as swelling/deswelling, conductivity modulation, mechanical adaptation, and optical switching, as well as their impact on controlled drug release, bioactive molecule delivery, and tissue regeneration processes. Contributions exploring multi-stimuli responsiveness, hybrid and composite gel systems, and innovative fabrication strategies are especially encouraged. A distinctive focus of this Special Issue is the integration of stimuli-responsive gels with advanced functional materials for emerging technological applications. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, gels for sensing and actuation, electro-optical and electrochemical devices, energy conversion and storage systems, adaptive interfaces, and environmentally relevant applications, as well as emerging biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, wound healing materials, and smart platforms for diagnostics and therapeutics. Studies combining experimental characterization with modeling or performance evaluation under operating conditions are welcome. By bridging soft matter science with functional materials, biomedical engineering, and device-oriented research, this Special Issue aims to provide a multidisciplinary platform for chemists, materials scientists, physicists, engineers, and biomedical researchers working on responsive gel systems. The collected contributions will highlight recent advances, critical challenges, and emerging trends in stimuli-responsive functional gels, fostering cross-fertilization between fundamental research and application-driven innovation.

Dr. Giuseppina Anna Corrente
Dr. Consuelo Celesti
Dr. Amerigo Beneduci
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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 2100 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 gels
• functional soft materials
• smart hydrogels
• multi-responsive systems
• biomedical applications
• drug delivery
• tissue engineering
• soft matter devices