Conductive hydrogels have shown great potential applications in a wide variety of fields, including artificial intelligence devices and biomedical engineering. However, it still remains a great challenge to develop a facile and cost-effective approach to achieve a conductive hydrogel with favorable qualities. Herein, we have changed the traditional ingredient of poly­(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel by the addition of phytic acid (PA), which could yield a conductive hydrogel through one freeze–thaw cycle. The PVA–PA hydrogel holds several virtues including a large stretchability (about 1100% strain), excellent conductivity (1.34 kΩ cm), and high optical transparence (about 95%). By assembling the PVA–PA hydrogel into a wearable strain sensor, the gel-based sensor has shown good performance for the real-time monitoring of human daily activities and health conditions. Moreover, one formula of the PVA–PA sol ink could rapidly convert to the gel state just by being injected on a flexible substrate under an ice-bath, which would satisfy the demand of casual writing circuits. This one-step preparation method of the PVA–PA hydrogel may open an innovative avenue for the fabrication of easy-molding and functional hydrogels with only two components under mild ambient conditions.

Hydroxyapatite (HA), the main inorganic component of bone tissue, is mineralized with collagen fibril scaffolds during bone formation. Inspired by the process, a self-assembled porous network architecture was designed and synthesized by using the 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidone (UPy) modified glycerol molecule UPy-Gly, which was further utilized as a template for biomimetic mineralization. When incubated in simulated body fluid (SBF), the HA nucleus first formed in the holes of the template by the induction of hydroxyls on the surface, grew along the nanofibers, and fused with the template to fabricate hydroxyapatite composites (UPy-Gly/HA). Transmission electron microscopic observation demonstrates that the mineral clusters are accumulated by lamella-like nano hydroxyapatite and the elasticity modulus measured by atomic force microscopy is about 5.5 GPa, which is quite close to the natural cancellous bone tissue of human both in structure and in mechanical properties. The Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8) assay of UPy-Gly and UPy-Gly/HA shows noncytotoxicity to mouse fibroblast L-929 cells. This bioinspired composite will be a promising material for potential use in bone tissue implantation and regeneration engineering.

With the identification of the exacerbating effect of glutaraldehyde on calcification of heart valve materials, there exists a renewed interest in both alternative reagents and the effects of crosslinking on connective tissues. One potentially useful class of reagents are poly(glycidyl ether) compounds. We have examined 5 of these reagents with different molecular sizes and functionalities for their effects on mechanical properties and collagen denaturation (shrinkage) temperature. Samples of bovine pericardium were tested fresh or after 48 h fixation in one of the five compounds for denaturation temperature, stress-strain response, stress relaxation, plastic deformation, and fracture properties. Of the compounds tested, those with intermediate length backbones and 4 or 5 epoxide groups were most effective in producing intrahelical crosslinking and increased denaturation temperature over 48 h. However, in samples examined after 17 months of fixation, all reagents had equivalently increased the denaturation temperature. Examination of mechanical results revealed two distinct mechanisms for mechanical change. Observed shifting of the stress-strain curve to the right (due to shrinkage), increased plastic deformation, and some reduction of stress relaxation are all unrelated to denaturation temperature (and hence to changes in intrahelical crosslinking). An alternate mechanism, perhaps formation of intermolecular crosslinks may be responsible. Intrahelical crosslinking produces only lesser reductions in stress relaxation. Cross-comparison of reagents of differing molecular structure provides a useful tool toward increased understanding of the mechanical consequences of tissue crosslinking.

The supramolecular polymers based on 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidone (UPy) with different structure were prepared and the effects of microtopography on the viscoelasticity were investigated.

No abstract

The force-induced cleavage of anthracene dimer results in fluorescence and shows good sensitivity to mechano-stimuli such as pressure.

There is a challenge to prepare the hydrogel devoted to fabricate a form of multi-responsive skin-like sensor piggybacked on the tactile controlled robot which could grab the soft and fragile...

Soil microbes are of great significance to driving the biogeochemical cycles and are affected by multiple factors, including urbanization. However, the response of soil microbes to urbanization remains unclear. Therefore, we designed an urban-to-rural gradient experiment to investigate the response of soil microbial composition and diversity to urbanization. Here, we used a high-throughput sequencing method to analyze the biotic and abiotic effects on soil microbial composition and diversity along the urban-to-rural gradient. Our results showed that soil bacterial diversity was the highest in urban areas, followed by suburban areas, and was the lowest in exurbs; however, fungal diversity did not vary significantly among the three areas. Plant traits, i.e., tree richness, shrub richness, the number of tree stems, diameter at breast height of trees, and soil properties, i.e., pH, soil organic carbon, soil exchangeable calcium and magnesium, and soil water content, were only significantly influenced bacterial diversity, but not fungal diversity. The effect of trees and shrubs was higher than that of herbs on microbial composition. Soil organic carbon, pH, soil available nitrogen, soil exchangeable calcium, and magnesium were the major soil factors influencing the soil bacterial and fungal composition. Soil properties had a greater influence on bacterial than on fungal composition at genus level, while plant traits contributed more to fungal than to bacterial composition at genus level. Our study suggests that the urban-to-rural gradient affect the composition and diversity of bacterial community as well as the fungal composition, but not the fungal diversity.