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Chen C, Pang X, Li Y, Yu X. Ultrafast Self-Healing, Superstretchable, and Ultra-Strong Polymer Cluster-Based Adhesive Based on Aromatic Acid Cross-Linkers for Excellent Hydrogel Strain Sensors. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2024; 20:e2305875. [PMID: 38054799 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202305875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic hydrogel strain sensors rarely exhibit a comprehensive combination of mechanical properties such as ultra-stretchability, ultrafast self-healing, and high sensitivity. Herein, seven small molecule enhanced mechanical behaviors of polymer-cluster based hydrogels are demonstrated. The oxidized polyethyleneimine/polymeric acrylic acid (ohPEI/PAA) hydrogels with aromatic formic acids as supramolecular cross-linkers are prepared by simultaneous formation of ohPEI polymer clusters and PAA upon the addition of ammonium persulfate. The optimized hydrogel adhesive exhibits comprehensive excellent properties, such as high extensibility (up to 12 298%), real-time mechanical self-healing capability (<1 s, 93% efficiency), high uniformity, underwater adhesivity, and water-sealing ability. The proper binding strength of hydrogel and skin (47 kPa) allows the hydrogel to be utilized as highly sensitive (gauge factor:16.08), highly conductive (2.58 mS cm-1), and underwater strain sensors. Specially, the adhesive strength of the adhesive to wood after dehydration is extremely high, reaching up to 29.59 MPa. Additionally, when glycerol is introduced, the obtained gel maintains the physical properties even at harsh-temperature conditions (-40 to 80 °C). It presents that multiple and hierarchical non-covalent interactions including multiple hydrogen bonding interactions, π-π stacking, electrostatic interactions, and dipole-dipole interactions of polymer clusters, allow for the energy dissipation and contribute to the excellent performance of the hydrogel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Chen
- Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Control on Surface and Interface, and College of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang, 050080, P. R. China
| | - Xuelei Pang
- Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Control on Surface and Interface, and College of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang, 050080, P. R. China
| | - Yajuan Li
- Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Control on Surface and Interface, and College of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang, 050080, P. R. China
| | - Xudong Yu
- Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Control on Surface and Interface, and College of Science, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Yuhua Road 70, Shijiazhuang, 050080, P. R. China
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Gudmundsson TA, Kuppadakkath G, Ghosh D, Ruether M, Seddon A, Ginesi RE, Doutch J, Adams DJ, Gunnlaugsson T, Damodaran KK. Nanoscale assembly of enantiomeric supramolecular gels driven by the nature of solvents. NANOSCALE 2024. [PMID: 38591601 DOI: 10.1039/d4nr00204k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Understanding the key parameters that control the self-assembly process is critical to predict self-assembly modes in multi-component systems, which will lead to the development of nanofibrous materials with tuneable properties. Enantiomeric amino acid-based low-molecular-weight gelators (LMWGs) were mixed in polar (polar protic) and aromatic apolar (aromatic) solvents and compared to their individual counterparts to probe the effect of solvent polarity on the self-assembly process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that xerogels of individual components display hollow needles in polar protic solvents, while chiral coils are observed in aromatic solvents. In contrast, the multi-component gel displays hollow needle morphologies in both solvents, indicating similar morphologies in polar protic solvents but an entirely different nanostructure for the individual gel networks in aromatic solvents. PXRD experiments performed on the dried gels showed that the nature of the solvents plays a vital role in the co-assembly process of multi-component gels. The self-assembly modes and the gel state structure of the gels are analysed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXS) and small-angle neutron diffraction (SANS), which reveals that the mixed gel undergoes different co-assembly modes depending on the nature of the solvent systems. This study shows that different co-assembly modes can be achieved for structurally similar components by varying the solvent polarity, demonstrating the importance of solvent choice in the self-assembly process of multi-component gels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tómas A Gudmundsson
- Department of Chemistry, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 3, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland.
- School of Chemistry and Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) and Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (AMBER) Centre, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - Geethanjali Kuppadakkath
- Department of Chemistry, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 3, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland.
| | - Dipankar Ghosh
- Department of Chemistry, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 3, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland.
| | - Manuel Ruether
- School of Chemistry and Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) and Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (AMBER) Centre, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - Annela Seddon
- School of Physics, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
| | - Rebecca E Ginesi
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - James Doutch
- ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK
| | - Dave J Adams
- School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson
- School of Chemistry and Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) and Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (AMBER) Centre, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - Krishna K Damodaran
- Department of Chemistry, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 3, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland.
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Ma Y, Gong J, Li Q, Liu X, Qiao C, Zhang J, Zhang S, Li Z. Triple-Mechanism Enhanced Flexible SiO 2 Nanofiber Composite Hydrogel with High Stiffness and Toughness for Cartilaginous Ligaments. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2024:e2310046. [PMID: 38183373 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202310046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
Hydrogels are widely used in tissue engineering, soft robotics and wearable electronics. However, it is difficult to achieve both the required toughness and stiffness, which severely hampers their application as load-bearing materials. This study presents a strategy to develop a hard and tough composite hydrogel. Herein, flexible SiO2 nanofibers (SNF) are dispersed homogeneously in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix using the synergistic effect of freeze-drying and annealing through the phase separation, the modulation of macromolecular chain movement and the promotion of macromolecular crystallization. When the stress is applied, the strong molecular interaction between PVA and SNF effectively disperses the load damage to the substrate. Freeze-dried and annealed-flexible SiO2 nanofibers/polyvinyl alcohol (FDA-SNF/PVA) reaches a preferred balance between enhanced stiffness (13.71 ± 0.28 MPa) and toughness (9.9 ± 0.4 MJ m-3 ). Besides, FDA-SNF/PVA hydrogel has a high tensile strength of 7.84 ± 0.10 MPa, super elasticity (no plastic deformation under 100 cycles of stretching), fast deformation recovery ability and excellent mechanical properties that are superior to the other tough PVA hydrogels, providing an effective way to optimize the mechanical properties of hydrogels for potential applications in artificial tendons and ligaments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvqing Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
| | - Jixian Gong
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
| | - Qiujin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
| | - Xiuming Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
| | - Changsheng Qiao
- School of Biological Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, P. R. China
| | - Jianfei Zhang
- National Innovation Center of Advanced Dyeing and Finishing Technology, Taian, 271001, P. R. China
| | - Songnan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
| | - Zheng Li
- State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes/ National Center for International Joint Research on Separation Membranes/Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of Education, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, P. R. China
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