IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-023-44481-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bioinspired structural hydrogels with highly ordered hierarchical orientations by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils

Author

Listed:
  • Shuihong Zhu

    (Xiamen University
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Sen Wang

    (Xiamen University)

  • Yifan Huang

    (Southeast University)

  • Qiyun Tang

    (Southeast University)

  • Tianqi Fu

    (Xiamen University)

  • Riyan Su

    (Shandong Huankeyuan Environmental Testing Co., Ltd)

  • Chaoyu Fan

    (Xiamen University)

  • Shuang Xia

    (Xiamen University)

  • Pooi See Lee

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Youhui Lin

    (Xiamen University
    Xiamen University)

Abstract

Natural structural materials often possess unique combinations of strength and toughness resulting from their complex hierarchical assembly across multiple length scales. However, engineering such well-ordered structures in synthetic materials via a universal and scalable manner still poses a grand challenge. Herein, a simple yet versatile approach is proposed to design hierarchically structured hydrogels by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils, without high time/energy consumption or cumbersome postprocessing. Highly aligned fibrous configuration and structural densification are successfully achieved in anisotropic hydrogels under ambient conditions, resulting in desired mechanical properties and damage-tolerant architectures, for example, strength of 14 ± 1 MPa, toughness of 154 ± 13 MJ m−3, and fracture energy of 153 ± 8 kJ m−2. Moreover, a hydrogel mesoporous framework can deliver ultra-fast and unidirectional water transport (maximum speed at 65.75 mm s−1), highlighting its potential for water purification. This scalable fabrication explores a promising strategy for developing bioinspired structural hydrogels, facilitating their practical applications in biomedical and engineering fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuihong Zhu & Sen Wang & Yifan Huang & Qiyun Tang & Tianqi Fu & Riyan Su & Chaoyu Fan & Shuang Xia & Pooi See Lee & Youhui Lin, 2024. "Bioinspired structural hydrogels with highly ordered hierarchical orientations by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44481-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44481-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44481-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-44481-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ji Liu & Shaoting Lin & Xinyue Liu & Zhao Qin & Yueying Yang & Jianfeng Zang & Xuanhe Zhao, 2020. "Fatigue-resistant adhesion of hydrogels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Lie-Wen Xia & Rui Xie & Xiao-Jie Ju & Wei Wang & Qianming Chen & Liang-Yin Chu, 2013. "Nano-structured smart hydrogels with rapid response and high elasticity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, October.
    3. Mutian Hua & Shuwang Wu & Yanfei Ma & Yusen Zhao & Zilin Chen & Imri Frenkel & Joseph Strzalka & Hua Zhou & Xinyuan Zhu & Ximin He, 2021. "Strong tough hydrogels via the synergy of freeze-casting and salting out," Nature, Nature, vol. 590(7847), pages 594-599, February.
    4. Haili Qin & Tan Zhang & Na Li & Huai-Ping Cong & Shu-Hong Yu, 2019. "Anisotropic and self-healing hydrogels with multi-responsive actuating capability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Mingjie Liu & Yasuhiro Ishida & Yasuo Ebina & Takayoshi Sasaki & Takaaki Hikima & Masaki Takata & Takuzo Aida, 2015. "An anisotropic hydrogel with electrostatic repulsion between cofacially aligned nanosheets," Nature, Nature, vol. 517(7532), pages 68-72, January.
    6. Yuan Chen & Yangzezhi Zheng & Yang Zhou & Wei Zhang & Weihuan Li & Wei She & Jiaping Liu & Changwen Miao, 2023. "Multi-layered cement-hydrogel composite with high toughness, low thermal conductivity, and self-healing capability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Zhao Pan & Qi-Qi Fu & Mo-Han Wang & Huai-Ling Gao & Liang Dong & Pu Zhou & Dong-Dong Cheng & Ying Chen & Duo-Hong Zou & Jia-Cai He & Xue Feng & Shu-Hong Yu, 2023. "Designing nanohesives for rapid, universal, and robust hydrogel adhesion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Limei Huang & Hao Li & Shunxi Wen & Penghui Xia & Fanzhan Zeng & Chaoyi Peng & Jun Yang & Yun Tan & Ji Liu & Lei Jiang & Jianfeng Wang, 2024. "Control nucleation for strong and tough crystalline hydrogels with high water content," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Bin Xue & Jie Gu & Lan Li & Wenting Yu & Sheng Yin & Meng Qin & Qing Jiang & Wei Wang & Yi Cao, 2021. "Hydrogel tapes for fault-tolerant strong wet adhesion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Chenyue Guo & Huajie Tang & Pengfei Wang & Qihao Xu & Haodan Pan & Xinyu Zhao & Fan Fan & Tingxian Li & Dongliang Zhao, 2024. "Radiative cooling assisted self-sustaining and highly efficient moisture energy harvesting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Xiansheng Zhang & Hongwei Yan & Chongzhi Xu & Xia Dong & Yu Wang & Aiping Fu & Hao Li & Jin Yong Lee & Sheng Zhang & Jiahua Ni & Min Gao & Jing Wang & Jinpeng Yu & Shuzhi Sam Ge & Ming Liang Jin & Lil, 2023. "Skin-like cryogel electronics from suppressed-freezing tuned polymer amorphization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Feipeng Chen & Xiufeng Li & Yafeng Yu & Qingchuan Li & Haisong Lin & Lizhi Xu & Ho Cheung Shum, 2023. "Phase-separation facilitated one-step fabrication of multiscale heterogeneous two-aqueous-phase gel," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Ruixin Zhu & Dandan Zhu & Zhen Zheng & Xinling Wang, 2024. "Tough double network hydrogels with rapid self-reinforcement and low hysteresis based on highly entangled networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Qing Li Zhu & Weixuan Liu & Olena Khoruzhenko & Josef Breu & Wei Hong & Qiang Zheng & Zi Liang Wu, 2024. "Animating hydrogel knotbots with topology-invoked self-regulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Xing Ming & Wen Si & Qinglu Yu & Zhaoyang Sun & Guotao Qiu & Mingli Cao & Yunjian Li & Zongjin Li, 2024. "Molecular insight into the initial hydration of tricalcium aluminate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Wenqian He & Meilin Wang & Guangkai Mei & Shiyong Liu & Abdul Qadeer Khan & Chao Li & Danyang Feng & Zihao Su & Lili Bao & Ge Wang & Enzhao Liu & Yutian Zhu & Jie Bai & Meifang Zhu & Xiang Zhou & Zunf, 2024. "Establishing superfine nanofibrils for robust polyelectrolyte artificial spider silk and powerful artificial muscles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Quanqian Lyu & Miaomiao Li & Lianbin Zhang & Jintao Zhu, 2024. "Structurally-colored adhesives for sensitive, high-resolution, and non-invasive adhesion self-monitoring," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Dan Xu & Yang Yang & Lukas Emmerich & Yong Wang & Kai Zhang, 2023. "Divergent Deborah number-dependent transition from homogeneity to heterogeneity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Chenchen Meng & Baofu Ding & Shaoze Zhang & Lele Cui & Kostya Ken Ostrikov & Ziyang Huang & Bo Yang & Jae-Hong Kim & Zhenghua Zhang, 2022. "Angstrom-confined catalytic water purification within Co-TiOx laminar membrane nanochannels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Won Bae Han & Gwan-Jin Ko & Kang-Gon Lee & Donghak Kim & Joong Hoon Lee & Seung Min Yang & Dong-Je Kim & Jeong-Woong Shin & Tae-Min Jang & Sungkeun Han & Honglei Zhou & Heeseok Kang & Jun Hyeon Lim & , 2023. "Ultra-stretchable and biodegradable elastomers for soft, transient electronics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Zengqi Huang & Lin Li & Tingqing Wu & Tangyue Xue & Wei Sun & Qi Pan & Huadong Wang & Hongfei Xie & Jimei Chi & Teng Han & Xiaotian Hu & Meng Su & Yiwang Chen & Yanlin Song, 2023. "Wearable perovskite solar cells by aligned liquid crystal elastomers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Norbert W Lutz & Monique Bernard, 2017. "Multiparametric quantification of thermal heterogeneity within aqueous materials by water 1H NMR spectroscopy: Paradigms and algorithms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, May.
    16. Jiang, Tengyao & Zhao, Xinpeng & Yin, Xiaobo & Yang, Ronggui & Tan, Gang, 2021. "Dynamically adaptive window design with thermo-responsive hydrogel for energy efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    17. Cui, Shuang & Ahn, Chihyung & Wingert, Matthew C. & Leung, David & Cai, Shengqiang & Chen, Renkun, 2016. "Bio-inspired effective and regenerable building cooling using tough hydrogels," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 332-339.
    18. Siheng Wang & Le Yu & Shanshan Wang & Lei Zhang & Lu Chen & Xu Xu & Zhanqian Song & He Liu & Chaoji Chen, 2022. "Strong, tough, ionic conductive, and freezing-tolerant all-natural hydrogel enabled by cellulose-bentonite coordination interactions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Wenfei Ai & Kai Hou & Jiaxin Wu & Yue Long & Kai Song, 2024. "Miniaturized and untethered McKibben muscles based on photothermal-induced gas-liquid transformation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    20. Bin Xue & Zoobia Bashir & Yachong Guo & Wenting Yu & Wenxu Sun & Yiran Li & Yiyang Zhang & Meng Qin & Wei Wang & Yi Cao, 2023. "Strong, tough, rapid-recovery, and fatigue-resistant hydrogels made of picot peptide fibres," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-44481-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.