Yin Guang, Wu Jing, Qi Chengzhang, Zhou Xinfeng, Yu Zhong-Zhen, Zhang Hao-Bin
State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, People's Republic of China.
Center for Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, People's Republic of China.
Nanomicro Lett. 2025 Jun 24;17(1):312. doi: 10.1007/s40820-025-01818-w.
Flexible and conformable nanomaterial-based functional hydrogels find promising applications in various fields. However, the controllable manipulation of functional electron/mass transport networks in hydrogels remains rather challenging to realize. We describe a general and versatile surfactant-free emulsion construction strategy to customize robust functional hydrogels with programmable hierarchical structures. Significantly, the amphipathy of silk fibroin (SF) and the reinforcement effect of MXene nanosheets produce sable Pickering emulsion without any surfactant. The followed microphase separation and self-cross-linking of the SF chains induced by the solvent exchange convert the composite emulsions into high-performance hydrogels with tunable microstructures and functionalities. As a proof-of-concept, the controllable regulation of the ordered conductive network and the water polarization effect confer the hydrogels with an intriguing electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency (~ 64 dB). Also, the microstructures of functional hydrogels are modulated to promote mass/heat transfer properties. The amino acids of SF and the surface terminations of MXene help reduce the enthalpy of water evaporation and the hierarchical structures of the hydrogels accelerate evaporation process, expecting far superior evaporation performance (~ 3.5 kg m⁻ h⁻) and salt tolerance capability compared to other hydrogel evaporators. Our findings open a wealth of opportunities for producing functional hydrogel devices with integrated structure-dependent properties.
基于柔性且可贴合的纳米材料的功能水凝胶在各个领域都有广阔的应用前景。然而，实现水凝胶中功能电子/质量传输网络的可控操纵仍然颇具挑战性。我们描述了一种通用且多功能的无表面活性剂乳液构建策略，以定制具有可编程层次结构的坚固功能水凝胶。值得注意的是，丝素蛋白（SF）的两亲性和MXene纳米片的增强作用产生了无需任何表面活性剂的稳定皮克林乳液。随后，由溶剂交换诱导的SF链的微相分离和自交联将复合乳液转化为具有可调微结构和功能的高性能水凝胶。作为概念验证，有序导电网络的可控调节和水极化效应赋予水凝胶令人感兴趣的电磁干扰屏蔽效率（约64 dB）。此外，功能水凝胶的微结构被调制以促进质量/热传递性能。SF的氨基酸和MXene的表面端基有助于降低水蒸发的焓，并且水凝胶的层次结构加速了蒸发过程，预计与其他水凝胶蒸发器相比具有远优越的蒸发性能（约3.5 kg m⁻² h⁻¹）和耐盐能力。我们的发现为生产具有集成结构相关特性的功能水凝胶器件开辟了大量机会。
