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Yao X, Chen H, Qin H, Cong HP. Nanocomposite Hydrogel Actuators with Ordered Structures: From Nanoscale Control to Macroscale Deformations. SMALL METHODS 2024; 8:e2300414. [PMID: 37365950 DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202300414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Flexible intelligent actuators with the characteristics of flexibility, safety and scalability, are highly promising in industrial production, biomedical fields, environmental monitoring, and soft robots. Nanocomposite hydrogels are attractive candidates for soft actuators due to their high pliability, intelligent responsiveness, and capability to execute large-scale rapid reversible deformations under external stimuli. Here, the recent advances of nanocomposite hydrogels as soft actuators are reviewed and focus is on the construction of elaborate and programmable structures by the assembly of nano-objects in the hydrogel matrix. With the help of inducing the gradient or oriented distributions of the nanounits during the gelation process by the external forces or molecular interactions, nanocomposite hydrogels with ordered structures are achieved, which can perform bending, spiraling, patterned deformations, and biomimetic complex shape changes. Given great advantages of these intricate yet programmable shape-morphing, nanocomposite hydrogel actuators have presented high potentials in the fields of moving robots, energy collectors, and biomedicines. In the end, the challenges and future perspectives of this emerging field of nanocomposite hydrogel actuators are proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Yao
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Reaction Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
| | - Hong Chen
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Reaction Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
| | - Haili Qin
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Reaction Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
| | - Huai-Ping Cong
- Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Reaction Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
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Huang Y, Chang Y, Ni Z, Wang L. Environmental parameters factors exploration on lettuce seed germination with hydrogel. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1308553. [PMID: 38516663 PMCID: PMC10955070 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1308553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) germination is sensitive to environmental conditions. Recently, hydrogel has received increased attention as an alternative media to soil for seed germination. Compared to soil seeding, hydrogel-aided germination provides more controlled seeding environments. However, there are still challenges preventing hydrogel-aided seed germination from being widely used in industry production or academic studies, such as hydrogel formulation variations, seeding operation standardization, and germination evaluation. In this study, we tested how the combination of multiple environmental conditions affect lettuce seed germination time, which is measured as the time needed for the first pair of leaves to appear (leaf emergence) or, alternatively, the third leaf to appear (leaf development). We found that germination time and success rate of two lettuce varieties (Iceberg A and Butter Crunch) showed different sensitivities to pH, Hoagland formulations and concentrations, light intensity, and hydrogel content. We have conducted statistical analysis on the correlation between germination time and these environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanhua Huang
- Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States
| | - Yanbin Chang
- School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States
| | - Zheng Ni
- School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States
| | - Lizhi Wang
- School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States
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Ma C, Peng S, Chen L, Cao X, Sun Y, Chen L, Yang L, Ma C, Liu Q, Liu Z, Jiang S. Anisotropic Bi-Layer Hydrogel Actuator with pH-Responsive Color-Changing and Photothermal-Responsive Shape-Changing Bi-Functional Synergy. Gels 2023; 9:438. [PMID: 37367109 DOI: 10.3390/gels9060438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Stimuli-responsive color-changing and shape-changing hydrogels are promising intelligent materials for visual detections and bio-inspired actuations, respectively. However, it is still an early stage to integrate the color-changing performance and shape-changing performance together to provide bi-functional synergistic biomimetic devices, which are difficult to design but will greatly expand further applications of intelligent hydrogels. Herein, we present an anisotropic bi-layer hydrogel by combining a pH-responsive rhodamine-B (RhB)-functionalized fluorescent hydrogel layer and a photothermal-responsive shape-changing melanin-added poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel layer with fluorescent color-changing and shape-changing bi-functional synergy. This bi-layer hydrogel can obtain fast and complex actuations under irradiation with 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) light due to both the melanin-composited PNIPAM hydrogel with high efficiency of photothermal conversion and the anisotropic structure of this bi-hydrogel. Furthermore, the RhB-functionalized fluorescent hydrogel layer can provide rapid pH-responsive fluorescent color change, which can be integrated with NIR-responsive shape change to achieve bi-functional synergy. As a result, this bi-layer hydrogel can be designed using various biomimetic devices, which can show the actuating process in the dark for real-time tracking and even mimetic starfish to synchronously change both the color and shape. This work provides a new bi-layer hydrogel biomimetic actuator with color-changing and shape-changing bi-functional synergy, which will inspire new strategies for other intelligent composite materials and high-level biomimetic devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
| | - Shuyi Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
| | - Lian Chen
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Xingyu Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Electronic Materials-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Ye Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Electronic Materials-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
| | - Lang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
| | - Chunming Ma
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Electronic Materials-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Qijie Liu
- Taizhou Key Laboratory of Medical Devices and Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Taizhou 318000, China
| | - Zhenzhong Liu
- Taizhou Key Laboratory of Medical Devices and Advanced Materials, Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Taizhou 318000, China
| | - Shaohua Jiang
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
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