Bioinspired Self-Growing Hydrogels by Harnessing Interfacial Polymerization

Jian, Nannan1; Guo, Rui1; Zuo, Lei1; Sun, Yibo1; Xue, Yu2; Liu, Ji2,3,4; Zhang, Kai1,5

2023-02-01

10.1002/adma.202210609

ADVANCED MATERIALS   Impact Factor & Quartile

0935-9648

1521-4095

The production of natural materials is achieved through a bottom-up approach, in which materials spontaneously grow and adapt to the external environment. Synthetic materials are specifically designed and fabricated as engineered materials; however, they are far away from these natural self-growing attributes. Thus, design and fabrication of synthetic material systems to replicate the self-growing characteristics of those natural prototypes (i.e., hairs and nails) remains challenging. Inspired by the self-growing behaviors of keratin proteins, here the fabrication of synthetic hydrogels (i.e., polyacrylamide (PAAm)) from the free radical polymerization at the interface between AAm precursor solution and liquid metals (i.e., eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn)) is reported. The newly formed hydrogel materials at the EGaIn/AAm precursor interface gradually push the whole hydrogel upward, enabling the self-growing of these synthetic hydrogel materials. This work not only endows the fabrication of synthetic materials with unprecedented self-growing characters, but also broadens the potential applications of self-growing materials in actuation and soft robotics.

actuation eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) interfaces radical polymerization self-growing hydrogels

SCI

English

NI Journal Papers

Corresponding

National Natural Science Foundation of China["11991030","12272041","12202055"] ; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province[2020A1515110288] ; Scientific Research Platforms and Projects of University of Guangdong Provincial Education Office[2022ZDZX3019] ; Basic Research Program of Shenzhen["JCYJ20210324105211032","GJHZ20210705141809030","RCBS20210609103713046"]

Chemistry ; Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Materials Science ; Physics

Chemistry, Multidisciplinary ; Chemistry, Physical ; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology ; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary ; Physics, Applied ; Physics, Condensed Matter

WOS:000928698200001

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

MATERIALS SCIENCE

Web of Science

1.Beijing Inst Technol, Sch Aerosp Engn, Beijing 100081, Peoples R China
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mech & Energy Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
3.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mech & Energy Engn, Shenzhen Key Lab Biomimet Robot & Intelligent Syst, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
4.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Guangdong Prov Key Lab Human Augmentat & Rehabil R, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
5.Beijing Inst Technol, Tangshan Res Inst, Tangshan 063000, Peoples R China

Jian, Nannan,Guo, Rui,Zuo, Lei,et al. Bioinspired Self-Growing Hydrogels by Harnessing Interfacial Polymerization[J]. ADVANCED MATERIALS,2023.

Jian, Nannan.,Guo, Rui.,Zuo, Lei.,Sun, Yibo.,Xue, Yu.,...&Zhang, Kai.(2023).Bioinspired Self-Growing Hydrogels by Harnessing Interfacial Polymerization.ADVANCED MATERIALS.

Jian, Nannan,et al."Bioinspired Self-Growing Hydrogels by Harnessing Interfacial Polymerization".ADVANCED MATERIALS (2023).