Radical‐Mediated, Substrate‐Independent Fabrication of Hybrid Solid–Hydrogel Materials With Tunable Crosslinking: An Initiator‐ and Crosslinker‐Free Approach (Adv. Sci. 27/2026)

Radical-Rich Interfaces for Covalent Hydrogel Integration In their Research Article (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202516300), Behnam Akhavan and co-workers introduce a substrate-independent plasma strategy that forms radical-rich interlayers enabling initiator-free, crosslinker-free covalent hydrogel bonding. Long-lived radicals drive in situ gelation, creating robust, cytocompatible solid-hydrogel hybrids across diverse materials for a wide range of applications from implant surface engineering to soft robotics and electronics.