This paper reviews the major research progress in designing, preparing and optimizing the bio-inspired intelligent materials in a variety of engineering applications such as anti-icing, marine anti-fouling, self-healing, infrared stealth and underwater adhesives, and the associated bionic principles are discussed as well. Finally, the outlook and prospect of this field are also addressed. As a solid bridge between fundamental researches and practical applications, the development of bio-inspired intelligent materials will definitely provide novel ideas, theories and strategies to meet the requirements for the multifunctional and structural-functional integrated materials and to solve the current technological problems in many scientific and engineering fields, which is of great importance in accelerating the innovation of science and technology.

bio-inspired intelligent materials  /  structural function integration  /  functional diversification