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About

Sidi Duan is a rising leader in soft materials and robotics, whose work bridges fundamental polymer chemistry with cutting-edge engineering for autonomous systems. His research centers on three key areas: advanced hydrogels, liquid metal electronics, and physical intelligence for soft robots. Duan’s major contributions include developing a fast, projection lithography-based method for printing liquid metal circuits (62 citations), which enables highly stretchable electronics for wearables and soft robotics. He also pioneered tendon-inspired anti-freezing tough gels (28 citations), addressing the critical limitation of hydrogels freezing below 0°C, and introduced a protonation strategy for creating tough, isotropic hydrogels (6 citations). His comprehensive review on noncovalent aggregation in hydrogels (70 citations) has become a foundational resource in the field. Duan’s work on autonomous soft robots is particularly notable: he has advanced physical intelligence through bio-inspired multimodal actuators with environmental self-adaptation (15 citations) and developed air plastron-enabled heat management for enhanced photothermal actuation in underwater robots (11 citations). His on-scalp printing of personalized EEG e-tattoos (19 citations) demonstrates the translational potential of his research. With over 250 total citations and a rapidly growing portfolio, Duan is shaping the future of soft, intelligent materials.