UC San Diego

Analyzing hydrogel microstructure through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images is crucial in understanding hydrogel properties. However, the analysis of SEM images in hydrogel research heavily relies on the intuition of individual researchers and is constrained by the limited size of the dataset. To address this, we propose SEMPro, a data-driven solution using web-scraping and deep learning (DL) to compile and analyze the structure-property relationships of hydrogels through SEM images. It accurately predicts the elastic modulus from SEM images within the same order of magnitude and displays a learned extraction of modulus-relevant features in SEM images as seen through the nontrivial activation mapping and transfer learning. By employing Explainable AI through activation map exposure, SEMPro validates the model predictions. SEMPro represents a closed-loop data collection and analysis pipeline, providing critical insights into hydrogels and soft materials. This innovative approach has the potential to revolutionize hydrogel research, offering high-dimensional insights for further advancements.