Chitosan is a weak cationic polyelectrolyte that can be cued to undergo reversible pH-dependent self-assembly in which individual chains associate to form macroscopic hydrogels. Nearly 20 years ago it was observed that the high pH cues that induce chitosan's self-assembly can be imposed electrically to induce chitosan hydrogels to electrodeposit on cathode surfaces. These imposed electrical signals (< 5 V) have two components: the current (or rate of electron-transfer from the electrode) that quantifies the localized generation of OH^– that is responsible for neutralizing chitosan chains and inducing their self-assembly; and the voltage (or field) that can provide a force on the charged chitosan chains to drive their migration toward the cathode and their alignment during electrodeposition. Five years ago, it was reported that an oscillatory ON-OFF electrical input cued the emergence of a segmented hydrogel structure: segments are formed during the ON-step while denser boundary regions are formed during the OFF-step. Later work extended the use of electrical signals to guide the emergence of structure from a dual-responsive chitosan-agarose interpenetrating network. In this short review, we summarize our understanding of the underlying phenomena, and the relevance to the transduction of electrical to structural information and the controllable introduction of hydrogel properties.

壳聚糖是一种弱阳离子聚合电解质，可以提示其经历可逆的pH依赖性自组装，其中单个链缔合形成宏观水凝胶。将近20年前，人们观察到可以通过电导引引起壳聚糖自组装的高pH信号来诱导壳聚糖水凝胶在阴极表面上电沉积。这些施加的电信号（<5 V）具有两个分量：电流（或电极中电子的传输速率），用于量化OH的局部生成^–负责中和壳聚糖链并诱导其自组装；电压（或场）可以在带电的壳聚糖链上施加力，以驱动它们向阴极迁移并在电沉积过程中对齐。五年前，据报道，振荡的开-关电输入提示了分段水凝胶结构的出现：在开步骤中形成了段，而在关步骤中形成了更密集的边界区域。后来的工作扩展了电信号的使用，以指导双响应壳聚糖-琼脂糖互穿网络中结构的出现。在这篇简短的评论中，我们总结了对基本现象的理解，