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About

Dominik Konkolewicz is a materials scientist and polymer chemist whose research sits at the dynamic intersection of soft robotics, self-healing materials, and advanced manufacturing. His work has made significant contributions to the development of 3D-printable elastomers with autonomous repair capabilities, addressing longstanding challenges in soft robotic prototyping by enabling geometric complexity without sacrificing material performance. His most influential publication, "3D-Printed Self-Healing Elastomers for Modular Soft Robotics" (2021, 97 citations), demonstrated how vat photopolymerizable systems could overcome the cumbersome fabrication limitations that had constrained the field. Subsequent work has tackled fundamental trade-offs in materials design — particularly the tension between bond dynamicity required for self-healing and the strong interactions needed for adhesion — resulting in innovative adhesive elastomers with dynamic covalent bond rearrangement. More recently, Konkolewicz has explored nanoparticle-reinforced printable elastomers and pioneered the use of chemical fuel-driven, out-of-equilibrium reactions to create polymer materials with time-dependent, biologically inspired properties. Together, his contributions establish a coherent research vision: materials that are not merely functional but actively responsive and self-sufficient.