Microscale droplet assembly enables biocompatible multifunctional modular iontronics

From molecular mechanisms to clinical translation: Silk fibroin-based biomaterials for next-generation wound healing

Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural polymeric material that has attracted intense research attention in the field of wound healing due to its exceptional mechanical properties, tunable biodegradability, and multifunctional bioactivity. This review systematically summarizes the preparation strategies, functional modifications, and multidimensional application mechanisms of SF and its composite materials in wound healing. The innovative applications of SF in intelligent dressing design, immunometabolic regulation, controlled drug release, stem-cell function modulation, and bioelectrical-activity-mediated microenvironment remodeling is further explored, while analyzing the therapeutic efficacy and cost-effectiveness of SF through clinical translation cases. Distinct from previous reviews, this work not only integrates the latest advances in SF molecular mechanisms and material design but also emphasizes its potential in precision medicine, such as the development of genetically engineered SF for customized immunoregulatory networks. Finally, the article highlights the current challenges in the development of SF materials, including mechanical stability, degradation controllability, and standardization of large-scale production, and envisions future research directions driven by 3D bioprinting and synthetic biology technologies. This review provides a theoretical foundation and technical reference information for the development of efficient, multifunctional, and clinically translatable SF-based materials for application in wound healing.

Poly(siloxane)-Derived Ionosilicone Elastomers Reveal the Role of Interfacial Polymer Dynamics in Ionic Double-Layer Rectification

Poly(siloxane ionic liquid)s (PSILs) have highly flexible siloxane backbones, affording them low glass transition temperatures and therefore high solvent-free ionic conductivity at ambient temperature, offering promise for ion-mediated electronic devices. Here, cross-linked, highly conductive (>4 × 10-3 mS/cm) cationic and anionic PSILs (termed ionosilicones) were prepared. The backbone of these ionosilicone networks could be tuned by copolymerization with acrylate monomers to create ionosilicone-acrylate hybrid networks with intermediate properties. When two oppositely charged networks are brought into contact, an ionic double layer (IDL) consisting of fixed cations and anions is formed, and the heterojunction exhibits diode-like nonlinear conductance and ionic current rectification. Interestingly, we observe a trade-off between IDL polarization speed and rectification performance with increased ionosilicone content. We show that the more rapid interfacial polymer dynamics induced by increasing temperature switches the diode "on" in a similar manner as applying a forward DC bias voltage. To explain this multimodal switching behavior, we posit the formation of an interfacial complex with distinctly slower dynamics than the bulk, low-Tg ionoelastomers, limiting ion motion at low temperatures and under reverse bias. These findings provide insight into the key role of backbone flexibility of IDL-based device performance and shine new light on interfacial polymer dynamics as an important design criterion in bipolar ionotronic devices.

Nanofluidic Volatile Threshold Switching Ionic Memristor: A Perspective

The fast development of artificial intelligence and big data drives the exploration of low-power computing hardware. Neuromorphic devices represented by memristors may provide a possible computing paradigm beyond von Neumann's architecture because they enable the integration of processing and storage units by mimicking how the brain processes complex information in parallel. In the brain, information is processed via multilevel spiking coding and event-driven mechanisms, whose simplified neural circuit is represented by the leaky-integration-and-fire model combining volatile threshold switching memristors and capacitors. As a computing unit to emulate the working environment and explore the unique functions of ions and molecules of biological systems, nanofluidic volatile threshold switching ionic memristors become essential but are still missing. This Perspective will review the mechanism and role of threshold switching memristors as a building block for neuromorphic computing and list three possible routes for nanofluidic ones.

Editorial Perspective: Advancements in Microfluidics and Biochip Technologies

Microfluidics and biochip technologies continue to play a key role in driving innovation across biomedical, environmental and engineering disciplines [...].