Abstract:Recently, physical stimuli-responsive wormlike micelles have received considerable attention from both scientific and technological perspectives due to their tunable rheological properties. Compared to chemical triggers including pH, CO2 and redox agents, physical stimuli show distinct advantages such as ease of operation, no byproducts, environmental friendliness and non-invasiveness. We herein review the advances in physical stimuli responsive wormlike micelles regarding fabrication strategies, responsive mechanisms, rheological properties and practical applications. The existing studies mainly focus on the system construction and fundamental theoretical aspects. The inefficient trial-and-error method dominates the fabrication methods, while the related applications are still in the laboratory stage. Therefore, future preparation approaches should be combined with artificial intelligence techniques including big data simulation and machine learning. Meanwhile, it is highly desirable to investigate the performance changes and response characteristics of physical stimulation-responsive wormlike micelles for their large-scale production and application in the field implementation.