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| Congratulations to Zehao Tong for his paper Novel bio-inspired metamaterials for athletes to achieve high energy absorption and sensing under sports-specific load has been published by Chemical Engineering Journal！ |
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| Publishing Time：2026-03-20 |
Chemical Engineering Journal 534 (2026) 174178 Keywords: Bio-inspired metamaterials, Athletes, Energy absorption, Deformation pattern, Sensing
In sports-specific movement, athletes are usually subjected to severe sports injuries in the eccentric phase of the stretch-shorten cycle, severely threatening their physical health, even ending their sports career, which may result in millions of dollars in additional expenses for national teams and sports clubs. Nevertheless, current sports equipment is not only unable to offer targeted cushioning for athletes but also incapable of monitoring exercise load to prevent sports injuries, owing to its simple structure and single functionality. Therefore, inspired by bionic features from bamboo, skeletal muscle, and cuttlefish bone, novel bio-inspired metamaterials with high energy absorption capabilities (401.21 J) were proposed in this study. In addition, by integrating a pure physical, cross-linked, double-network conductive hydrogel and bio-inspired metamaterials, a multifunctional insole with cushioning and sensing was developed in the study. It is of note that the bio-inspired multifunctional insole decreased the peak vertical ground reaction force to merely 76.6% of that of famous commercial running shoes, achieving an extra force reduction of up to 1.46 times body weight for targeted cushioning of athletes. Furthermore, it can also identify different locomotion from the stretch-shorten cycle to realize real-time exercise load monitoring. As a result, bio-inspired multifunctional insoles not only contributed to the scientific enhancement of sports-specific performance and personalized prevention of sports injury for athletes but also paved the way for upgrading and evolution of sports equipment.
Zehao Tong, Cheng Lin, Liwu Liu, Yanju Liu, Jinsong Leng
Novel bio-inspired metamaterials for athletes to achieve high energy absorption and sensing under sports-specific load.pdf |
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