State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) Forschungszentrum Jülich, Garching, 85748, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 13;14(1):1370. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37036-4.
Robust damage-tolerant hydrogel fibers with high strength, crack resistance, and self-healing properties are indispensable for their long-term uses in soft machines and robots as load-bearing and actuating elements. However, current hydrogel fibers with inherent homogeneous structure are generally vulnerable to defects and cracks and thus local mechanical failure readily occurs across fiber normal. Here, inspired by spider spinning, we introduce a facile, energy-efficient aqueous pultrusion spinning process to continuously produce stiff yet extensible hydrogel microfibers at ambient conditions. The resulting microfibers are not only crack-insensitive but also rapidly heal the cracks in 30 s by moisture, owing to their structural nanoconfinement with hydrogen bond clusters embedded in an ionically complexed hygroscopic matrix. Moreover, the nanoconfined structure is highly energy-dissipating, moisture-sensitive but stable in water, leading to excellent damping and supercontraction properties. This work creates opportunities for the sustainable spinning of robust hydrogel-based fibrous materials towards diverse intelligent applications.
具有高强度、抗裂性和自修复性能的稳健耐用的水凝胶纤维，作为承载和驱动元件，对于它们在软机器和机器人中的长期应用是不可或缺的。然而，目前具有固有均匀结构的水凝胶纤维通常容易受到缺陷和裂纹的影响，因此很容易在纤维法线方向上发生局部机械失效。在这里，受蜘蛛纺丝的启发，我们引入了一种简单、节能的水相拉伸纺丝工艺，在环境条件下连续生产刚性但可拉伸的水凝胶微纤维。由于氢键簇被嵌入离子复合吸湿基质中，所得到的微纤维不仅对裂纹不敏感，而且在 30 秒内就能通过水分快速修复裂纹。此外，纳米受限结构具有高能量耗散、对湿度敏感但在水中稳定的特点，从而具有优异的阻尼和超收缩性能。这项工作为可持续地纺制稳健的基于水凝胶的纤维材料创造了机会，以实现各种智能应用。
