%0 journal article %@ 2059-8521 %A Rodriguez, N., Bastola, A., Behl, M., Soffiatti, P., Rowe, N., Lendlein, A. %D 2021 %J MRS Advances %N 25 %P 625-630 %R doi:10.1557/s43580-021-00081-6 %T Approaches of combining a 3D-printed elastic structure and a hydrogel to create models for plant-inspired actuators %U https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-021-00081-6 25 %X Inspired by the interesting functional traits of a climbing cactus, Selenicereus setaceus, found in the forest formations of Southeastern Brazil, we formulated a hypothesis that we can directly learn from the plants to develop multi-functional artificial systems by means of a multi-disciplinary approach. In this context, our approach is to take advantage of 3D-printing techniques and shape-memory hydrogels synergistically to mimic the functional traits of the cactus. This work reports on the preliminary investigation of cactus-inspired artificial systems. First, we 3D-printed soft polymeric materials and characterized them, which defines the structure and is a passive component of a multi-material system. Second, different hydrogels were synthesized and characterized, which is an active component of a multi-material system. Finally, we investigated how the hydrogel can be integrated into the 3D-printed constructs to develop artificial functional systems.