My PhD (2007-2011) mainly focused on the development of conductive tough hydrogels.
The tough hydrogels were based on the double network concept, where two polymer networks
with different crosslinking ratio were formed within each other. A third conducting
polymer network was introduced to provide electrical conductivity. The achieved hydrogel
system was capable of sustaining high external forces while remained highly conductive
and pH sensitive. Between 2007 and 2008 my research was mainly concerned with studying
the modulated drug release from carbon nanotube/hydrogel films. Controlled drug release
was achieved by tuning the polarity and strength of the applied voltage. Since 2011 till
present my research has focused on the development of soft actuators based on hydrogels
and other polymer networks. I am also working on encapsulation of actuators and
development of stretchable polyelectrolytes.

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Conductive tough hydrogels, University of Wollongong Thesis Collection (2011)

The aim of this thesis was to develop a hydrogel system with enhanced mechanical performance....