Magneto-/ electro-responsive polymers (MERPs) are a class of stimuli-responsive materials that are actuated when triggered by external magnetic/ electric fields. MERPs exhibit rapid, reversible, and safe multi-functional and dynamic (i.e., changing with time) properties, which can effectively be manipulated at different length scales. These features make MERPs very attractive particularly in biomedical engineering (e.g., drug delivery systems and tissue engineering), soft matter engineering (e.g., soft robotics), and structural design of smart materials with unprecedented properties (e.g., complex shape morphing). Due to the recent progress in the design and development of MERPs, here, we highlighted the current advances in fabricating MERPs using various manufacturing methods including 3D/ 4D printing and conventional techniques. We also summarized the methods used for the characterization of MERPs and discussed their important structure-property relationship. We also highlighted the potential applications of MERPs in biomedical engineering, soft robotic, and the design of smart materials and systems. MERPs show great potentials for creating smart materials with predictable dynamic properties. More studies are necessary to investigate the biological responses of MERP both in-vivo and in-vitro, which is essential for biomedical engineering applications.

The authors regret to inform that unfortunately, there is a minor typo in the original version of the article. Authors apologize for this shortcoming and are aimed to report the correct data herein. In Table 1 of the original manuscript, a6 must be considered to be equal with +2.71 (instead of −2.71). The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are polymers reinforced by ferromagnetic particles that show magnetic dependent behavior. Mixing MREs with reinforcing fibers can create a new class of material so-called “MRE composites, MRECs” with additional functionalities and properties. Here, using a Generalized Maxwell model, we proposed a new magnetic-dependent rheological model by considering the hysteresis phenomenon for MREs to predict the dynamic damping responses of MREC plates reinforced by fibers in the frequency domain. We also investigated the influence of magnetic flux intensity, the volume fraction of the fiber, the orientation angle of the fibers, the number of layers, as well as the fiber-to-matrix stiffness ratio on the natural frequency, loss factor, and mode shapes of MRECs plates. Our results suggest that homogenously increasing the elastic properties of the MRECs through the spatial distribution of fibers and changing the fiber-to-matrix stiffness ratio can effectively tailor the dynamic properties of MRECs. Tailoring these properties can provide additional freedom for the fabrication of 4D-printed MRE-based composites.