State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 130022, Changchun, China.
Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Adv Mater. 2020 Mar;32(10):e1907697. doi: 10.1002/adma.201907697. Epub 2020 Jan 28.
Biopolymeric networks with plasticity show great competences in diverse fields owing to the combined biocompatible and mechanical characteristics. However, to realize such plasticity external complicated treatments, e.g., UV or organic solvent have to be applied, which in turn impair the biological nature and even mechanical properties of those systems. To address this challenge, one new type of anhydrous protein liquid crystalline (LC) gels, which exhibit flexible morphological plasticity and mechanical programmability is demonstrated. Supramolecular interactions in the smectic biogels play an important role for their high plasticity. Remarkably, the samples exhibit outstanding mechanical behaviors. The tensile strength and Young's modulus at MPa levels are comparable or even higher than chemically cross-linked hydrogels and LC elastomers. More importantly, mechanical programmability of the LC gels is achieved by genetically tuning the charge density of protein backbones. Consequently, the mechanical performance is manipulated in the range of one order of magnitude. Thus, this type of anhydrous protein LC gels offers great opportunities for load-bearing high-tech applications.
具有塑性的生物聚合网络由于其兼具生物相容性和机械特性，在各个领域都表现出了巨大的优势。然而，为了实现这种塑性，需要外部复杂的处理，例如紫外线或有机溶剂，这反过来又会损害这些系统的生物性质甚至机械性能。为了解决这一挑战，人们展示了一种新型的无水蛋白质液晶（LC）凝胶，它具有灵活的形态塑性和机械可编程性。各向异性生物凝胶中的超分子相互作用对其高塑性起着重要作用。值得注意的是，这些样品表现出了优异的机械性能。拉伸强度和杨氏模量达到兆帕级，可与化学交联水凝胶和 LC 弹性体相媲美，甚至更高。更重要的是，通过基因调控蛋白质主链的电荷密度，可以实现 LC 凝胶的机械可编程性。因此，可以在一个数量级范围内控制机械性能。因此，这种类型的无水蛋白质 LC 凝胶为承载高科技应用提供了巨大的机会。
