Nature Communications
·
2025
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-12
·
IF 15.7
Zhou Ning,Cui Ting,Lei Zhouyue,Wu Peiyi
Mimicking biological systems’ sensing, learning, and memory capabilities in synthetic soft materials remains challenging. While significant progress has been made in sensory functions in ionogels, their learning and memory capabilities still lag behind biological systems. Here, we introduce cation-π interactions and a self-adaptable ionic-double-layer interface in bilayer ionogels to control ion transport. Fast ion response enables sensing and learning, while slow ion relaxation supports long-term memory. The ionogels achieve bioinspired functions, including sensitization, habituation, classical conditioning, and multimodal memory, with low energy consumption (0.06 pJ per spike). Additionally, the ionogels exhibit mechanical adaptability, such as stretchability, self-healing, and reconfigurability, making them ideal for soft robotics. Notably, the ionogels enable a robotic arm to mimic the selective capture behavior of a Venus flytrap. This work bridges the gap between biological intelligence and artificial systems, offering promising applications in bioinspired, energy-efficient sensing, learning, and memory.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
神经科学
·
软体机器人学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Polymers
·
2022
·Vol. 14
·期 5
·903
·
IF 4.967
Zhe Liu,Hua Wang,Chuanjian Zhou
An elastomer with mechanical adaptability is a new kind of polymer material in which the increasing stress under continuous deformation is significantly inhibited in a large deformation area. Liquid crystal-based organosilicone elastomers, which can dissipate energy through reversible internal phase transition under external stimulation and have recoverable large deformation capacity, have drawn much interest as mechanical adaptability materials. However, there is no good way to control the mechanical adaptability at present. For this purpose, we prepared a new liquid crystal-based phenyl silicone rubber (LCMVPQ) using two-step click reactions and systematically explored the effect of phenyl content on its mechanical adaptability to achieve the regulation of mechanical adaptability. With an increase in phenyl content in the LCMVPQs, phenyl can hinder the rearrangement of the mesogenic units along the applied stress direction, which enables the adjustment of mechanical adaptability to meet the needs of different situations. In addition, the introduction of the liquid crystal phase impedes the internal friction of the molecular chain movement of the LCMVPQs and reduces the damping performance of silicone rubber. This research achieves the regulation of elastomers with mechanical adaptability and is expected to be applied in practical application fields.Keywords:liquid crystal-based phenyl silicone rubber;phenyl content;the regulation of mechanical adaptability;damping performance
研究领域:
高分子科学
·
材料科学
·
机械工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2022
·Vol. 33
·期 9
·2211035
·
IF 19.924
Chuanyue Sun,Jiabei Luo,Shengchang Yan,Kerui Li,Yaogang Li,Hongzhi Wang,Chengyi Hou,Qinghong Zhang
Smart textiles with good mechanical adaptability play an important role in personal protection, health monitoring, and aerospace applications. However, most of the reported thermally responsive polymers has long response time and poor processability, comfort, and wearability. Skin-core structures of thermally responsive fibers with multiple commercial fiber cores and temperature-responsive hydrogel skins are designed and fabricated, which exhibit rapid mechanical adaptability, good thermohardening, and thermal insulation. This universal method enables tight bonding between various commercial fiber cores and hydrogel skins via specific covalently anchored networks. At room temperature, prepared fibers show softness, flexibility, and skin compatibility similar to those of ordinary fibers. As temperature rises, smart fibers become hard, rigid, and self-supporting. The modulus of hydrogel skin increases from 304% to 30883%, showing good mechanoadaptability and impact resistance owing to the synergy between hydrophobic interactions and ionic bonding. Moreover, this synergistic effect leads to an increase in heat absorption, and fibers exhibit good thermal insulation, which reduces the contact temperature of the body surface by ≈25 °C under the external temperature of 95 °C, effectively preventing thermal burns. Notably, the active mechanoadaptability of these smart fibers using conductive fibers as cores is demonstrated. This study provides feasibility for fabricating environmentally adaptive intelligent textiles.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
纺织科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Polymers
·
2022
·Vol. 14
·期 4
·789
·
IF 4.967
Zhe Liu,Yuqi Xiong,Jinghao Hao,Hao Zhang,Xiao Cheng,Hua Wang,Wei Chen,Chuanjian Zhou
Elastomers with supreme mechanical adaptability where the increasing stress under continuous deformation is significantly inhibited within a large deformation zone, are highly desired in many areas, such as artificial muscles, flexible and wearable electronics, and soft artificial-intelligence robots. Such system comprises the advantages of recoverable elasticity and internal compensation to external mechanical work. To obtain elastomer with supreme mechanical adaptability, a novel liquid crystal-based organosilicon elastomer (LCMQ) is developed in this work, which takes the advantages of reversible strain-induced phase transition of liquid crystal units in polymer matrix and the recoverable nano-sized fillers. The former is responsible for the inhibition of stress increasing during deformation, where the external work is mostly compensated by internal phase transition, and the latter provides tunable and sufficient high tensile strength. Such LCMQs were synthesized with 4-methoxyphenyl 4-(but-3-en-1-yloxy)benzoate (MBB) grafted thiol silicone oil (crosslinker-g-MBB) as crosslinking agent, vinyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane as base adhesive, and fumed silica as reinforcing filler by two-step thiol-ene “click” reaction. The obtained tensile strength and the elongation at break are better than previously reported values. Moreover, the resulting liquid crystal elastomers exhibit different mechanical behavior from conventional silicone rubbers. When the liquid crystal content increases from 1% (w/w) to 4% (w/w), the stress plateau for mechanical adaptability becomes clearer. Moreover, the liquid crystal elastomer has no obvious deformation from 25 °C to 120 °C and is expected to be used in industrial applications. It also provides a new template for the modification of organosilicon elastomers.Keywords:liquid crystal-based organosilicon elastomers;supreme mechanical adaptability;thiol-ene “click” reaction
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
·
2025
·
IF 8.5
Ting Dong,Rui Li,Zhaojing Lu,Jian Zhou,Mutao Xu,Shasha Feng,Tingting Cui,Ning Gu
This study employs advanced 3D bioprinting to molecularly integrate polycaprolactone (PCL), carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), and curcumin (CCM), formulating an artificial skin patch with dual antibacterial and regenerative functionalities. The patch employs directional hydrogen bonding between CMCS and bioactive CCM to reduce the contact angle of the PCL matrix from 107.5° to 57.3°, significantly enhancing antibacterial efficacy ( S. aureus : 92.89 %; E. coli : 99.31 %), promoting cell migration, and achieving an optimal balance between tensile strength (11 MPa) and elongation (30 %). The material demonstrates exceptional mechanical resilience with a storage modulus (G′ = 3.1 kPa) greater than the loss modulus (G″ = 1.6 kPa), and over 95 % modulus recovery within 30 s after 10 % strain, ensuring structural integrity under dynamic wound conditions. In vivo animal studies confirmed that the artificial skin patch significantly promoted the healing of infected wounds, with only approximately 5.51 ± 1.56 % of the wound area remaining unhealed after 12 days of treatment. Histological analysis further revealed that the patch effectively suppressed IL-6 expression and facilitated epithelialization, collagen deposition, angiogenesis, and macrophage polarization. Both in vitro and in vivo assessments validate its superior wound-healing capacity, offering a highly efficient, customizable, and transformative solution for clinical wound management.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
材料科学
·
再生医学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
COLLOIDS AND SURFACES A-PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING ASPECTS
·
2025
·
IF 5.4
Xiang Long,Hao Yu,Peijian Zhang,Chen Qian,Mengze Lu,Yaqin Fu
Mechanically adaptive hydrogels with switchable mechanical properties have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in various emerging fields. However, inevitable swelling and/or shrinkage associated with mechanical property switching lead to dimensional instability and structural failure of these hydrogels. This study synthesized dimensionally stable thermal-stiffening composite hydrogels by incorporating poly( N -isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM)-grafted SiO 2 hybrid nanoparticles into a hydrogel matrix. By strategically localizing the thermo-responsive unit of PNIPAM at the interface between the SiO 2 nanoparticles and hydrogel matrix, the undesired swelling and shrinkage behavior are successfully eliminated, which are typically observed in conventional thermo-responsive mechanically adaptive hydrogels. The resulting composite hydrogels exhibit significantly enhanced dimensional stability compared to conventional counterparts and demonstrate superior response speed. Upon heating to 40 °C, the PNI-SiO 2 /P(AM- co -NIPAM)-2.0 hydrogel displays a tensile modulus of 22.4 kPa, strength of 60.5 kPa, and toughness of 127.1 kJ·m −3 , which is approximately twice that of its original state (12.2 kPa, 32.5 kPa, and 70.7 kJ·m −3 ). Moreover, both heating and cooling responses are completed within approximately 10 seconds while maintaining mass and volume changes below 3 %, with water content remaining at approximately 95 %. This work presents a design strategy for developing dimensionally stable mechanically adaptive composite hydrogels, which hold great promise for applications in tissue engineering, biomedical fields, and soft robotics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
组织工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS
·
2021
·
IF 9.381
Kui Hu,Peng He,Zhipeng Zhao,Liulian Huang,Kai Liu,Shan Lin,Min Zhang,Hui Wu,Lihui Chen,Yonghao Ni
It is still a challenge to integrate high sensitivity, mechanical adaptability, and self-powered properties for hydrogels. Herein, we report a conductive polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel based on natural nanoclay and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). The CNFs and PVA chains could construct a double network structure, resulting in a high mechanical composite hydrogel. Meanwhile, the nanoclay could be well dispersed and immobilized in the network of the hydrogel, thus improving mechanical adaptability of the hydrogel for curved and dynamic surfaces. Moreover, the conductive ions (Al 3+ ) imparted the hydrogel with high conductivity (6.67 S m −1 ) and gauge factor (1.17). Therefore, the composite hydrogel exhibited high sensitivity to tiny pressure changes, enabling recognition of the complicated sounding and handwriting. More importantly, the composite hydrogel possessed self-powered property, which could generate an output voltage of up to 78 mV. In summary, the multi-functional composite hydrogel may have giant applications in artificial electronic skins or wearable devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
·
2024
·
IF 5.8
Chao Feng,Baofeng Xu,Li Chen,Zhenhua Qiu,Jianwei Guo
Cellulose hydrogels are widely regarded as green and environmentally friendly flexible electronic materials. Herein, a novel multiple cross-linked cellulose hydrogel (MCC/SA20/MCC- g -P(AA- co -AM-AMPS)) with high sensitivity (gauge factor = 440, 670 %, 60 ms) and good mechanical adaptability was designed and prepared. The prepolymer (MCC- g -P(AA- co -AM-AMPS)) was introduced into the microcrystalline cellulose/sodium alginate (MCC/SA) hydrogel network to form a multiple cross-linked network structure, which effectively enhanced the tension and elasticity of the cross-linked network, and improved the mechanical adaptability and sensitivity of the hydrogel. Additionally, it was assembled as a strain sensor that can accurately identify and monitor various motion states of the human body. It was also assembled as a friction nanogenerator (TENG) that continuously generates a stable open circuit voltage (7.2 V) for self-powering small electronic devices. This study provides an effective and feasible strategy for cellulose hydrogels in flexible sensors for sports health monitoring, sustainable green energy harvesting, and self-powering applications for small electronic devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS
·
2019
·
IF 6.044
Chunxiang Ding,Chenyang Cai,Lixun Yin,Qinglin Wu,Mingzhu Pan,Changtong Mei
Strain-transfer plays a key role in overall modulus of mechanically adaptive nanomaterials. Herein, mechanically adaptive nanocomposites were prepared via introducing cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) percolating network into poly butyl methacrylate (PBMA) with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a stabilizer. The prepared PBMA/CNC nanocomposites were soaked in deionized water at 23 °C and 37 °C for one week to investigate their mechanically adaption. The interactions between PEG, CNC , and PBMA were assessed by Fourier Transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Incorporation of PEG to CNC and PBMA/CNC nanocomposites on the morphological and thermal properties was also investigated. The mechanical adaption of PBMA/CNC nanocomposites after switching dry-to-wet state and surrounding temperature (soaked in deionized water at 23 °C and 37 °C for one week, respectively) was evaluated by mechanical testing. Meantime, digital image correlation (DIC) was firstly used to study strain transfer mechanism in mechanical adaption which was carried out in real-time synchronized with mechanical measurement. It indicated that PEG improved the dispersion of CNC in PBMA/CNC nanocomposite and its thermal properties. Furthermore, CNC with PEG modification bridged PBMA during crack propagation and promoted the stress and stain transfer in PBMA/CNC nanocomposites according to DIC analysis.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Nano Research
·
2023
·Vol. 17
·期 4
·3120-3129
·
IF 9.9
Hu Lulin,Yu Xinxin,Hao Jingcheng,Xu Lu
Owing to their low flexibility, poor processability and a lack of responsiveness, inorganic materials are usually non-ideal for constructing a living organism. Hence, to date, lifelike materials with structural hierarchies and adaptive properties usually rely on light and soft organic molecules, although few exceptions have been acquired using two-dimensional (2D) inorganic nanosheets. Herein, with a systematic study on the gelation behavior of carbon-based 0D quantum dots, 1D nanotubes, and 3D fullerenes, we find that acidified 1D carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can serve as an alternative building block for fabricating purely inorganic biomimetic soft materials. The as-prepared CNT gels exhibit not only a pH- or photothermal-triggered mechanical and tribological adaptivity, which allows them to simulate the behavior of sea cucumbers, peacock mantis shrimps, and mammalian muscles or cortical bones, but also a unique damping property that is similar to spider’s cuticular pad. Their high elasticity, effective lubrication, excellent biocompatibility, and controllable friction and wear also allow them to function as a new type of smart lubricants, whose tribological properties can be regulated either by its internal pH changes or spatiotemporally by near-infrared (NIR) light irradiations, free of any toxic and flammable base oils or additives.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
·
柔性机器人
·
仿生学
·
摩擦学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
·
2022
·
IF 5.546
Peng An,Hua Wei,Yansheng Zhang,Yang Zhou,Hua Zhang,Wenfeng Li,Baolong Niu,Jing Chen
Injectable hydrogels possess strict requirements of network structure and biocompatibility for cell therapy. It is highly required to load and deliver cells with no damage during the injection operation and accelerate their proliferation after injection at the lesions. Herein, naturally derived chitosan (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) were chemically modified to synthesize methylacrylylated chitosan (CSMA) and aldehyde-containing hyaluronic acid (OHA). The imine cross-linkage can be rapidly constructed and reversibly broken between amino and aldehyde groups, endowing the resulting hydrogel with highly efficient mechanical adaptivity, including shearing-thinning and fast self-healing. Besides, the methacrylate groups of CSMA can be cross-linked by photoinitiation, making the dynamic hydrogel with adjustable elasticity and modulus to match the cell culture. The dynamic crosslinked hydrogel demonstrated good compatibility with a wide variety of body cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Benefiting from the excellent mechanical adaptivity and cytocompatibility, BMSCs were in situ encapsulated in the dynamic hydrogel and then extruded through a clinically used syringe. Remarkably, the percentage of living cells still reached 87.6% after injection, with no significant cell damage compared with their original state before injection. Moreover, the osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation abilities of stem cells were not affected by the extrusion injection due to the mechanically adaptive three-dimensional network of the dynamic hydrogel. Taken together, the proposed mechanically adaptive “all-sugar” hydrogels intensify the cell-laden injectability and enhance the long-term viability of cell culture, which shows great potential in the field of cell therapy and tissue engineering.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
细胞治疗
·
组织工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Nature Communications
·
2025
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-12
·
IF 15.7
Wang Hongxing,Cheng Longdi,Yu Jianyong,Si Yang
Ceramic aerogels, widely used as thermal insulation materials, are renowned for their remarkable characteristics, including ultralight weight and ultralow thermal conductivity. However, their application is often limited by susceptibility to damage under repeated dynamic thermal shocks—a challenge that remains inadequately addressed. Herein, we present a multicomponent structural engineering approach that integrates ceramic nanofibers with traditional textile knitting topology to fabricate mechanically adaptable ceramic fibrous aerogels. Benefiting from the porous nanofibrous network and the synchronized motion of the prestressed knitted topological framework, which can be readily activated to accommodate deformation while efficiently dissipating energy, the resulting aerogels exhibit exceptional mechanical properties. Specifically, our aerogels demonstrate a high tensile strength of 356.6 kPa, a compressive strength of 109.1 kPa, and remarkable mechanical adaptability in response to external stimuli. Moreover, these aerogels achieve a high fracture energy of 117.26 kJ m -3 and display exceptional recovery from deformation after 1000 cycles of compression or 500 cycles of tension. This study elucidates the structural-property interdependence in aerogel materials through multiscale analysis and advances the rational design of the next-generation impact-absorbing systems and metamaterials.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米科技
·
复合材料工程
·
功能材料
·
力学性能调控
·
先进制造
·
热防护系统
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）