School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, GD HPPC Lab, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 May 20;12(20):22534-22542. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c03523. Epub 2020 May 7.
Implantable and wearable materials, which are usually used in/on a biological body, are mostly needed with biomimetic self-healing function. To enable repeatable large-wound self-healing and volume/structure recovery, we verified a proof-of-concept approach in this work. We design a polymer hydrogel that combines temperature responsiveness with an intrinsic self-healing ability through host-guest orthogonal self-assembly between two types of poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) oligomers. The result is thermosensitive, capable of fast self-repair of microcracks based on reversible host-guest assembly. More importantly, when a large open wound appears, the hydrogel can first close the wound via volume swelling and then completely self-repair the damage in terms of intrinsic self-healing. Meanwhile, its original volume can be easily recovered by subsequent contraction. As demonstrated by the experimental data, such millimeter-level wound self-healing and volume recovery can be repeatedly carried out in response to the short-term cooling stimulus. With low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility, moreover, this highly intelligent hydrogel is greatly promising for practical large-wound self-healing in wound dressing, electronic skins, wearable biosensors, and humanoid robotics, which can tolerate large-scale human motions.
可植入和可穿戴材料通常用于/在生物体上，大多需要具有仿生自修复功能。为了实现可重复的大面积伤口自修复和体积/结构恢复，我们在这项工作中验证了一个概念验证方法。我们设计了一种聚合物水凝胶，通过两种类型的聚（异丙基丙烯酰胺）（PNIPAM）低聚物之间的主客体正交自组装，将温度响应性与内在自修复能力结合在一起。其结果是具有温度敏感性，能够基于可逆的主客体组装快速修复微裂纹。更重要的是，当出现大的开放性伤口时，水凝胶可以首先通过体积膨胀来闭合伤口，然后通过内在自修复完全修复损伤。同时，其原始体积可以通过随后的收缩轻松恢复。如实验数据所示，这种毫米级别的伤口自修复和体积恢复可以在响应短期冷却刺激时反复进行。此外，由于这种高度智能水凝胶具有低细胞毒性和良好的生物相容性，因此非常有希望用于伤口敷料、电子皮肤、可穿戴生物传感器和人形机器人等实际的大面积伤口自修复，这些应用可以耐受大规模的人体运动。
