State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Apr 28;13(16):19291-19300. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c02351. Epub 2021 Apr 14.
Nature provides perpetual inspiration for exploring anisotropic materials to implement complex functions and motions like biological organisms. In particular, fibrous hydrogel-based anisotropic aggregates have attracted tremendous interest as fantastic materials for development into artificial ligaments or muscles. Such aggregates combine the structural anisotropy and macroscopic flexibility of fiber materials, with the intelligence, softness, and wetness of hydrogel materials. However, controlled fabrication of such hydrogels with aligned microstructures, even in a macroscopic level, remains a challenge. Here, a facile and general strategy was proposed to develop ligament-inspired multistructural (mono/bilayer) gel belts via dynamic stretching of multistrand pregels, accompanied by the simultaneous assembly of hydrogel fibers. The resultant gel belts evolved into anisotropic and aligned micro- and macrostructures, exhibiting high elastic moduli (0.01-23.5 MPa) and unique anisotropic swelling behaviors. Through further physical and chemical structure design, bioinspired multiple fibrous gel-based actuators were developed to achieve anisotropic, relatively fast (within 60 s), and delicate macroscopic shape deformations. This work provides a great platform for the design and construction of next-generation soft materials for biomimetic tissues.
大自然为探索各向异性材料提供了不竭的灵感，以实现复杂的功能和运动，就像生物有机体一样。特别是基于纤维水凝胶的各向异性聚集体作为人工韧带或肌肉的神奇材料引起了极大的兴趣。这些聚集体结合了纤维材料的结构各向异性和宏观柔韧性，以及水凝胶材料的智能性、柔软性和湿润性。然而，在宏观层面上，控制各向异性微结构的水凝胶的制造仍然是一个挑战。在这里，提出了一种简便通用的策略，通过多股预凝胶的动态拉伸来开发韧带启发的多结构（单层/双层）凝胶带，同时组装水凝胶纤维。所得的凝胶带演变成各向异性和取向的微观和宏观结构，表现出高弹性模量（0.01-23.5 MPa）和独特的各向异性溶胀行为。通过进一步的物理和化学结构设计，开发了仿生多纤维凝胶基驱动器，以实现各向异性、相对较快（在 60 秒内）和精细的宏观形状变形。这项工作为仿生组织的下一代软材料的设计和构建提供了一个很好的平台。
