Nature Communications
·
2024
·Vol. 15
·期 1
·1-9
·
IF 14.7
Xu Hongtu,Liang Huan,Yang Yang,Liu Yawen,He Enjian,Yang Zhijun,Wang Yixuan,Wei Yen,Ji Yan
To date, only one polymer can self-grow to an extended length beyond its original size at room temperature without external stimuli or energy input. This breakthrough paves the way for significant advancements in untethered autonomous soft robotics, eliminating the need for the energy input or external stimuli required by all existing soft robotics systems. However, only freshly prepared samples in an initial state can self-grow, while non-fresh ones cannot. The necessity of synthesizing from monomers for each use imposes significant limitations on practical applications. Here, we propose a strategy to rejuvenate non-fresh samples to their initial state for on-demand self-growth through the synergistic effects of solvents and dynamic covalent bonds during swelling. The solvent used for swelling physically transforms the non-fresh LCEs from the liquid crystal phase to the isotropic phase. Simultaneously, the introduction of the transesterification catalyst through swelling facilitates topological rearrangements through exchange reactions of dynamic covalent bonds. The rejuvenation process can also erase growth history, be repeated several times, and be regulated by selective swelling. This strategy provides a post-modulation method for the rejuvenation and reuse of self-growing LCEs, promising to offer high-performance materials for cutting-edge soft growing robotics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Nano
·
2020
·
IF 14.588
Zhongwu Bei,Yang Lei,Rui Lv,Yuan Huang,Yangwei Chen,Chao Zhu,Shaojun Cai,Dong Zhao,Qingliang You,Yiping Cao,Xianzheng Zhang
Room-temperature self-healing and self-growing of the exoskeleton with aligned structures in insects has few analogs in synthetic materials. Insect cuticle, such as elytra in beetles, with a typical lightweight lamellar structure, has shown this capability, which is attributed to the accumulation of phenol oxidase with polyphenol and amine-rich compounds in the hard cuticle. In this study, laminar-structure-based intelligence is imitated by incorporating adaptable and growable pyrogallol (PG)-borax dynamic-covalent bonds into a poly(acrylamide)-clay network. The events that lead to crack formation and water accumulation quickly trigger the deprotection of PG. Subsequently, atmospheric O2, as a regeneration source, activates PG oxidative self-polymerization. Multiple permanent and dynamic cross-links, with the involvement of the sacrificed borax, and initiation of a series of intelligent responses occur. The fabricated composites with an aligned lamellar structure exhibit outstanding characteristics, such as air/water-triggered superstrong adhesion, self-repairing, self-sealing and resealing, and reprocessing. Moreover, the strategy endows the composites with a self-growing capability, which leads to a 4- to 10-fold increase in its strength in an outdoor climate (up to 51 MPa). This study could lead to advances in the development of air/water-responsive composite materials for applications such as adaptive barriers.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED MATERIALS
·
2025
·
IF 26.8
Liheng Gao,Xinyu Song,Lingxi Meng,Junyi Wang,Hongming Zhang,Xinquan Jiang,Wenjie Zhang
Tissue regeneration and repair techniques approaching personalized treatment are devoted to fabricating high-precision scaffolds that accurately match the size of the defect. However, scaffolds are difficult to implant in situ for obsolete defects with loss of original space, and the size is limited by confined boundary tissue. In nature, the development of fetuses, organs, and even plants all experience a matched growth in volume and border. Inspired by that, this study proposes a space-expanding regeneration model with a self-growing (SG) scaffold, which is then used in refractory alveolar ridge vertical bone augmentation. The SG scaffold contains a multistage hydrophilic polymer network. The initial size can be eliminated for minimally invasive implantation, and gradually increased by orderly absorption of tissue fluid, achieving controlled growth in vivo. The shearing force of the SG scaffold suppresses tissue hematoma and stimulates extracellular matrix remodeling. In addition, macrophages polarize toward M2 and secrete transforming growth factor-β1. Meanwhile, bone regeneration is induced within the expanded space, achieving a ≈5-fold vertical increase of the rat skull, and supporting a 6-mm-long titanium implant. The SG scaffold provides a spatial and border extension model for obsolete injuries.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
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组织工程
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口腔医学
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再生医学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
·
2021
·
IF 5.407
Dong Wu,Zeang Zhao,Hongshuai Lei,Hao-Sen Chen,Qiang Zhang,Panding Wang,Daining Fang
Natural tissues possess the self-strengthening ability through biological growth, during which additional building blocks are transported into the tissues and attached to the pre-existing microstructures. In contrast, synthetic materials are typically static, meaning neither their dimensions nor their mechanical properties are able to be altered after the materials are manufactured into specific structures. Recently the concept of bio-inspired synthetic material arises, aiming at developing materials with dynamically programmable performances. Based on the idea of multinetwork (MN) elastomer , we propose a solvent-free elastomer composite system that can be strengthened through tunable self-growth cycles. Resembling biological tissues, chemical structures of the composite remain constant after self-growing, while its dimension, modulus, strength and swelling ability can be programmed on demand. The elastomer composite is naturally compatible with Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing , which directly enables the fast manufacturing of high-precision structures. Applications of the self-growing composites in metamaterials with tunable mechanical performance and waterproof structures are exhibited at the same time.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
·
2025
·
IF 9.7
Fanjia Sun,Jianbing Zang,Zhiwei Hou,Xueqing Tian,Rui Zhu,Youbin Zheng,Yanhui Wang,Liang Dong
The design of low-cost, highly active, and stable electrocatalysts is pivotal for advancing water electrolysis technologies. In this study, carbonyl iron powder (CIP) was anchored within the pores of nickel foam (NF) by electroplating nickel, creating nickel iron foam-like (NFF-L) substrates. Subsequently, nickel–iron hydroxide (NiFe-OH) was synthesized on the NFF-L substrate employing an autogenous growth strategy, followed by a phosphating treatment that produced a nanoflower-like NiFe bimetallic phosphide heterostructure catalyst (Fe 2 P-Ni 2 P@NFF-L). This novel method of substrate filling enhanced space utilization, while the presence of micropores and mesopores on the nanosheet surfaces facilitated electrolyte infiltration and ion diffusion, thereby significantly increasing the specific surface area. The formation of a two-phase heterointerface accelerated electron transmission and transfer, enhancing water dissociation and the adsorption of hydrogen adatoms (H ad ). In addition, under anodic oxidation conditions, the dynamic surface reconstruction facilitated a synergistic interaction between the highly active β-NiOOH and α-FeOOH phases, which significantly contributed to the catalyst’s exceptional intrinsic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
研究领域:
材料科学
·
电化学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA PART A-MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY
·
2023
·
IF 4.4
Daqing Yang,Wenyu Zhang,Tiyun Zhu,Xiao Liu,Liang He,Shuai Meng,Zhiqiang Li,Qingqing Xiong
For typical synthetic materials, continue mechanical loading usually cause damage and even failure, because they are closed systems, without substance exchange with surroundings and structural reconstruction after damage. Double-network (DN) hydrogels have recently been demonstrated to generate radicals under mechanical loading. In this work, DN hydrogel provided with sustained monomer and lanthanide complex supply undergo self-growth, and thus simultaneous self-strengthen in both mechanical performance and luminescence intensity are realized through bond rupture-initiated mechanoradical polymerization. This strategy proves the feasibility of imparting desired functions to the DN hydrogel by mechanical stamping, and provides a new strategy for the design of luminescent soft materials with high fatigue resistance.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Science Advances
·
2021
·Vol. 7
·期 43
·
IF 14.143
Di Chen,Chujun Ni,Lulin Xie,Ye Li,Shihong Deng,Qian Zhao,Tao Xie
Soft lithography is a complementary extension of classical photolithography, which involves a multistep operation that is environmentally unfriendly and intrinsically limited to planar surfaces. Inspired by homeostasis processes in biology, we report a self-growth strategy toward direct soft lithography, bypassing conventional photolithography and its limitations. Our process uses a paraffin swollen light responsive dynamic polymer network. Selective light exposure activates the network locally, causing stress imbalance. This drives the internal redistribution of the paraffin liquid, yielding controllable formation of microstructures. This single-step process is completed in 10 seconds, does not involve any volatile solvents/reactants, and can be adapted to three-dimensional complex surfaces. The living nature of the network further allows sequential growth of hierarchical microstructures. The versatility and efficiency of our approach offer possibilities for future nanotechnologies beyond conventional microfabrication techniques.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2025
·
IF 19
Xinyu Chen,Ruilin Zhang,Hanlei Zhang,Xiaofan Hu,Ruinan Wang,Qiangjun Ling,Peng Shi,Kunyu Zhang,Liming Bian
The growth of living organisms is achieved through the autonomous integration of external nutrients as building blocks under mild physiological conditions. Inspired by this biological property, researchers have developed self-growing materials based on the chemical polymerization of reactive monomers. However, the limited cytocompatibility of covalent bonding-driven self-growing materials hinders their biomedical applications. Herein, a non-equilibrium self-growing hydrogel driven is reported by cytocompatible ligand–ion coordination between calcium ion (Ca 2+ ) and bisphosphonate-modified pectin (PT-BP). Multiform self-growth of the seed PT-BP-Ca 2+ hydrogel occurs autonomously in a heterotrophic manner by seamlessly integrating supplied soluble PT-BP polymer as integral structures via the crosslinking mediated by Ca 2+ diffusion. This self-growth enables diverse cytocompatible post-gelation modifications of hydrogels, including complex surface patterning and segmental growth-induced cold welding. Unlike the gap-interfered interfaces of self-healed hydrogels, the monolithic and continuous structures of self-growing PT-BP-Ca 2+ hydrogels better support the migration and interactions of cells encapsulated in the seed hydrogel and newly grown regions. In vivo self-growth of cancer cell-seeded hydrogel in an animal model enhances macrophage infiltration, a key pathogenic feature during cancer progression. This work demonstrates a simple and cytocompatible strategy to fabricate bio-inspired heterotrophic self-growing materials for diverse biomedical applications.
研究领域:
生物材料学
·
组织工程
·
再生医学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
·
2025
·
IF 6.9
Yichen Zhang,Xin Li,Shengzhu Zhou,Pixu Li,Xue Fu,Yong Fan,Li Wang,Jie Zhao,Jianing Xu
Organic silicon polymers, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), have been considered as ideal materials for protecting metal from cavitation, fouling adhesion, and electrochemical corrosion. However, their application in metal protection is greatly limited by their weak interfacial strength. In this study, we address this limitation by designing an isotropous interlocking coating via a magnetically responsive self-growing strategy, achieving robust interlocking between rigid micropillar arrays and flexible PDMS. The interfacial strength can be precisely tuned from 2.0 to 3.1 MPa by varying the tilt angle of the micropillars, resulting in an increase of 500 % to 700 % compared to the pure PDMS coating. Remarkably, the isotropic interlocking coating with the microcolumn tilt Angle of 55° still maintains above 2.0 MPa even after 12 h of cavitation shock. In addition, the cavitation, fouling release and electrochemical tests of the isotropic interlocking coating were performed respectively to prove its outstanding application potential in metal protection field.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
腐蚀与防护
·
表面工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE
·
2025
·
IF 4
Zhang Jian-Ye,Xu Xin-Yu,Sun Qiao,Liu Ling,Liu Zeng-He,Zhu Yu-Tian
Thermosets are indispensable to our daily life, but their crosslinked structures make them unable to be processed by the melt processing like thermoplastics, which greatly limits their shape designs and applications. Herein, we address this challenge via an in situ self-growing strategy, i.e. utilizing the dynamic imidazole-urea moiety to suck up and integrate epoxy into the materials and making the thermoplastics grow in situ into thermosets. With this strategy, thermosets can be readily processed via hot-melt extrusion molding, including melt spinning and fused deposition modeling 3D printing. More importantly, this strategy simultaneously integrates the flexibility of polyurethane and the robustness of epoxy resin into the resulting thermosets, yielding a mechanical-reinforcing effect to make the material not only strong but also tough (toughness: 99.3 MJ·m −3 , tensile strength: 38.8 MPa). Moreover, the crosslinking density and modulus of the as-prepared thermosets (from 34.1 MPa to 613.7 MPa) can be readily tuned on demand by changing the growth index. Furthermore, these thermosets exhibited excellent thermal stability and chemical resistance.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2023
·
IF 19
Yiming Zhao,Yue Chen,Xiaoyu Song,Yuan Li,Limin Zhang,Yeqiao Meng,Xiaolai Zhang,Xiaoyong Qiu,Jun Huang
Many soft animals like starfish have developed armors to protect their soft bodies in order to survive in harsh environment. Inspired by this fact, special hydrogels with self-growing protective armors are developed by allowing sodium acetate to crystallize on hydrogel surface. Poly(acrylic acid) chains limit the crystalline region to the surface of the hydrogel by decreasing the pH value and limiting the movement of ions, and then creating a set of tough armor. This armor-protected hydrogel is able to withstand a high pressure (> 78 MPa) under cutting and prevent the penetration of sharp objects. Interestingly, the unique stimulated-precipitation mechanism allows the armor to repair itself after damage. Besides, the surface of hydrogel changes from “sticky” to “slippery”, which also helps to improve its protective ability. Moreover, the armor helps to retrain water in hydrogel network, and significantly improve the mechanical properties of hydrogels (maximum compressive stress >18 MPa, compressive strain > 90%). In addition, the hydrogel can keep soft and work durably at extreme temperatures (−50 °C and 80 °C) due to the high salt concentration. This study provides an innovative approach for designing armor-protected hydrogels with great potential in engineering applications such as actuators and sensors for harsh environments.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
·
机械工程
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ANALYST
·
2023
·
IF 4.2
Li He,Ciping Chen,Yongge Liu,Hong Hai,Jianping Li
A novel electrochemiluminescence(ECL) aptamer biosensor with high sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of tumor biomarker carbohydrate antigen CA125 was constructed, and a strategy of triple amplification of signals was proposed by using exonuclease cyclic cleavage aptamer, combined with rolling ring amplification technologies, generating multi-branched dendritic double-stranded DNA to load a large number of probes through "strand self-growth". The double-stranded DNA, which abbreviated as CP/CA dsDNA, formed by hybridizing the single strand of capture DNA (CP DNA) with the single strand DNA of the CA125 aptamer(CA Apt) was modified on the Fe3O4@Au. When the carbohydrate antigen CA125 was added, CP/CA dsDNA were unwound, and CA125 specifically combined with CA Apt to form a protein-aptamer complex, leaving only CP DNA on the surface of the Fe3O4@Au. RecJf exonuclease cleaved the aptamer in the protein–aptamer complex and released CA125, which recombined to other CA125 aptamers, to form a cycle that produces more CP DNA on the Fe3O4@Au. Three ssDNA (H1, H2, H3) were introduced and hybridized with CP DNA to form a dsDNA with "+" configuration structure. Then phi29 DNA polymerase, T4 DNA ligase, deoxy-ribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTPs) and padlock probes were added to form a large number of complementary strands of padlock probes (CS padlock probes) by rolling cyclic amplification. CS padlock probes were linked to the "+" type dsDNA; then the ssDNA H4 was added and hybridized with CS padlock probe to form multi-branched dendritic dsDNA. A large number of Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) probes were embedded in the double strands, resulting in an extremely strong ECL signal in the presence of the co-reactant tri-n-propylamine (TPA). There is a linear relationship between the ECL signals and CA125 concentrations in the range of 1.0×10-15~1.0×10-8 mg/mL, and the detection limit was 2.38 × 10-16 mg/mL. It has been used for the determination of CA125 in serum samples.
研究领域:
生物传感器
·
分析化学
·
癌症标志物
·
分子生物学
✓ 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）