Bioinspired structural hydrogels with highly ordered hierarchical orientations by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38168050.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-44481-8 and PMC identifier 10761753.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
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<sup>-3</sup>, and fracture energy of 153 ± 8 kJ m<sup>-2</sup>. Moreover, a hydrogel mesoporous framework can deliver ultra-fast and unidirectional water transport (maximum speed at 65.75 mm s<sup>-1</sup>), 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.