Mucosa‐Inspired Electro‐Responsive Lubricating Supramolecular‐Covalent Hydrogel

Abstract

Enabling the living capability of secreting liquids dynamically triggered by external stimuli while maintaining the bulk frame is a significant challenge for mucosa‐inspired hydrogels. A mucosa‐inspired electro‐responsive hydrogel is developed in this study using the synergy between electro‐responsive silk supramolecular non‐covalent networks and covalent polyacrylamide and polyvinyl alcohol polymer networks. The formed supramolecular‐covalent hydrogel exhibits a partial gel‐sol transition upon the application of an electric field, and the liquid layer on the hydrogel surface near the cathode is used to mimic the mucus‐secreting capability to regulate lubrication. The electro‐responsive lubricating process can operate under a safe voltage and exhibits good reversibility. It is also a universal strategy is to construct an electro‐responsive hydrogel by introducing an electro‐responsive supramolecular network into the polymer network. This mucosa‐inspired electro‐responsive supramolecular‐covalent hydrogel offers a promising method for designing soft actuators or robots that can regulate lubrication using an electric strategy.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Lubricating Polymer Gels/Coatings: Syntheses and Measurement Strategies

“…Wenlong Song’s group developed a mucosa-inspired electro-responsive hydrogel consisting of an electro-responsive supramolecular noncovalent section (silk fibroin) and a covalent polymer interpenetrating network (polyacrylamide/polyvinyl alcohol double network (PAAm/PVA)) [ 40 ]. When an electric field is applied to the supramolecular hydrogel, it generates a partial gel-sol transition due to the disassembly of the silk fibroin network ( Figure 14 a).…”

“… ( a ) The schematic diagram of the electro-responsive mechanism of the mucosa-inspired hydrogel under an electric field [ 40 ]. ( b ) The molecular structural formulas of the components of the hydration lubrication surface.…”

“…( a ) Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Ref. [ 40 ]; Copyright © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. ( b , c ) Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Ref.…”

Molecularly Engineer Protic Ionic Liquids for Simultaneous Dissolution of Silk Fibroin/Cellulose and Wet-Spinning Composite Fibers Preparation through Hydrogen-Bonding-Acceptor-Strengthening Strategy

“…For example, the concentrated acid will lead to the degradation of SF; HFIP is expensive, corrosive, and toxic; the highly concentrated inorganic salt solutions require long-time dialysis treatment and exhibit poor solution stability, and the dissolution process will also lead to the degradation of SF . Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) are widely acknowledged as green solvents due to their excellent chemical stability, thermal stability, nonflammability, and recyclability, and some kinds of ILs have exhibited great potential for biopolymer dissolution and processing, including cellulose, − chitin, chitosan, and SF. , The first study of SF dissolution in ILs was conducted in 2004 by Phillips et al, and the results showed that the solubility of SF was highly correlated to the IL structure, which has stimulated much effort into preparing regenerated SF-based materials, such as fibers, films, hydrogels and scaffolds, demonstrating a feasible way for the value-added SF resources . Indeed, the use of ILs for SF processing and conversion, even other natural polymers, resented significant advantages over traditional solvent systems from not only a green technology but material properties point of view. , ILs are typically classified as protic ILs and aprotic ILs.…”

A quadruple-stimuli responsive supramolecular hydrogel constructed from a poly(acrylic acid) derivative and β-cyclodextrin dimer

“…Host–guest supramolecular hydrogels responding to environmental stimuli such as light, 1 temperature, 2 redox agents 3 and pH 4 have the potential to be used in controlled drug release, 5,6 artificial muscles and actuators, 7,8 self-healing, 9,10 shape-memory materials, 11,12 etc. To the best of our knowledge, supramolecular hydrogels that respond to three or more stimuli simultaneously are of great importance because they can generate more flexibility for complex environmental stimuli and have a wider range of applications with the coordination of different stimuli.…”