Super‐Soft DNA/Dopamine‐Grafted‐Dextran Hydrogel as Dynamic Wire for Electric Circuits Switched by a Microbial Metabolism Process

Abstract

Engineering dynamic systems or materials to respond to biological process is one of the major tasks in synthetic biology and will enable wide promising applications, such as robotics and smart medicine. Herein, a super‐soft and dynamic DNA/dopamine‐grafted‐dextran hydrogel, which shows super‐fast volume‐responsiveness with high sensitivity upon solvents with different polarities and enables creation of electric circuits in response to microbial metabolism is reported. Synergic permanent and dynamic double networks are integrated in this hydrogel. A serials of dynamic hydrogel‐based electric circuits are fabricated: 1) triggered by using water as switch, 2) triggered by using water and petroleum ether as switch pair, 3) a self‐healing electric circuit; 4) remarkably, a microbial metabolism process which produces ethanol triggering electric circuit is achieved successfully. It is envisioned that the work provides a new strategy for the construction of dynamic materials, particularly DNA‐based biomaterials; and the electric circuits will be highly promising in applications, such as soft robotics and intelligent systems.

Hydrogel: Diversity of Structures and Applications in Food Science

“…There are other multi-crosslinked hydrogels that you can refer to. [188,[300][301][302][303][304][305][306][307][308] The structural diversity of hydrogels Hydrogels can be formed into almost any size and shape. In hydrogels, there are features with lengths spanning from centimeters to sub-nanometers.…”

Multi‐Mode Reconfigurable DNA‐Based Chemical Reaction Circuits for Soft Matter Computing and Control

“…These obtained results suggest that by taking advantage of multiple diverse reaction pathways for soft matter computing with DNA-based CRNs, our built pH-responsive DNAs witching circuits-integrated microgel swelling system enables access to sensing of diverse environmental pH, implementing signal processing,a nd programming its mechanical work, shedding light on building smart materials mimicking cellular responsiveness and fabricating autonomous soft robots adapting to environment. On the basis of their expansion behaviors,o ur microgel can be applied for triggering electric circuit, [17] pH sensing, [18] tissue engineering, [19] drug delivery, [20] soft robotics. [21]…”

Multi-responsive nanofibers composite gel for local drug delivery to inhibit recurrence of glioma after operation

“…The mechanical properties of hydrogels can be continuously regulated by controlling the ratio of water. In addition, hydrogels possess the advantages of good biocompatibility, non-cytotoxicity, and low price, and they show broad prospects for application in the field of cancer treatment [ 28 , 29 ]. Drug delivery systems based on hydrogels have been widely used in preclinical studies [ 25 , 30 – 33 ].…”