State-of-Art Soft Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Soft materials represent many exciting research opportunities which are unprecedented in conventional hard materials. For example, soft materials can better match the properties of soft tissues, leading to new possibilities in biocompatible materials and biomimicry devices. Soft materials are also capable of reversible large deformation, which is rich in nonlinear behaviors that can be used in robotics and other functional devices. Moreover, soft materials can be responsive to environment stimuli, such as temperature and humidity, enabling smart active materials that adapt their performance according to the environment.

This Special Issue focuses on recent progress in soft materials, including but not limited to the synthesis of novel material, the design of new devices, new development in the manufacturing and processing of soft materials, and characterization and modeling of the complex behavior of soft materials such as fracture, adhesion, and instabilities.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Qihan Liu
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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.

• hydrogels
• adhesion and friction of soft materials
• fracture and fatigue of soft materials
• instabilities in soft materials
• 3D printing, coating, and other manufacturing methods of soft materials
• soft ionotronics
• soft robotics
• stimuli-responsive soft materials