Chen Siyu, Lee Chang Jie Mick, Tan Gladys Shi Xuan, Ng Pei Rou, Zhang Pengxiang, Zhao Jinpei, Novoselov Kostya S, Andreeva Daria V
Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117575, Singapore, Singapore.
Cardiovascular Research Institute, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 117599, Singapore, Singapore.
Macromol Rapid Commun. 2025 Jan;46(1):e2400518. doi: 10.1002/marc.202400518. Epub 2024 Aug 5.
Hydrogel devices with mechanical toughness and tunable functionalities are highly desirable for practical long-term applications such as sensing and actuation elements for soft robotics. However, existing hydrogels have poor mechanical properties, slow rates of response, and low functionality. In this work, two-dimensional hydrogel actuators are proposed and formed on the self-assembly of graphene oxide (GO) and deoxynucleic acid (DNA). The self-assembly process is driven by the GO-induced transition of double stranded DNA (dsDNA) into single stranded DNA (ssDNA). Thus, the hydrogel's structural unit consists of two layers of GO covered by ssDNA and a layer of dsDNA in between. Such heterogeneous architectures stabilized by multiple hydrogen bondings have Young's modulus of up to 10 GPa and rapid swelling rates of 4.0 × 10 to 1.1 × 10 s, which surpasses most types of conventional hydrogels. It is demonstrated that the GO/DNA hydrogel actuators leverage the unique properties of these two materials, making them excellent candidates for various applications requiring sensing and actuation functions, such as artificial skin, wearable electronics, bioelectronics, and drug delivery systems.
具有机械韧性和可调功能的水凝胶器件对于诸如软机器人的传感和驱动元件等实际长期应用来说是非常理想的。然而，现有的水凝胶机械性能差、响应速度慢且功能有限。在这项工作中，基于氧化石墨烯（GO）和脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）的自组装制备并形成了二维水凝胶致动器。自组装过程由GO诱导双链DNA（dsDNA）转变为单链DNA（ssDNA）驱动。因此，水凝胶的结构单元由两层被ssDNA覆盖的GO和中间一层dsDNA组成。这种通过多重氢键稳定的异质结构具有高达10 GPa的杨氏模量和4.0×10至1.1×10 s的快速溶胀速率，超过了大多数传统水凝胶类型。结果表明，GO/DNA水凝胶致动器利用了这两种材料的独特性能，使其成为各种需要传感和驱动功能的应用（如人造皮肤、可穿戴电子设备、生物电子学和药物输送系统）的理想候选材料。
