Manipulating supramolecular gels with surfactants: Interfacial and non-interfacial mechanisms

Du, Juan; You, Yue; Reis, Rui L.; Kundu, Subhas C.; Li, Jingliang

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2023.102950

“…[19] The branching structures were attributed to the formation of multiple nucleation sites on the growing fibers. [20] It is known that the energy required for creating a step on the surface of the crystal is typically low. As a result, mismatch nucleation often occurs at fiber tips, especially in the case that suitable polymeric additives have been applied to accumulate on crystal surfaces, hindering normal growth.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ostwald ripening for designing time‐dependent crystal hydrogels

Liu,

Fang,

Xiong

et al. 2024

Angew Chem Int Ed

6

0

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Ostwald ripening (OR), a classic solution theory describing molecular transfer from metastable crystal to stable one, is applied to design time‐dependent crystal hydrogels that can automatically change their mechanical properties. Using a system made from crosslinked polyacrylamide (PAM) and sodium acetate (NaAc), we demonstrate that metastable fibrous crystal networks of NaAc preferably form in PAM hydrogels via a polymer‐involving mismatch nucleation. These fibrous crystals would undergo OR and evolve into isolated bulk crystals, leading to a significant reduction in material rigidity (179 folds) and interfacial adhesion (20 folds). This transformation can be applied to program time‐dependent self‐recovery in shape and self‐delamination. Since OR is a ubiquitous, robust feature of various crystals, the approach reported here represents a new direction for designing advanced transient soft materials.

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“…29 Notably, with an increase in the amount of Tween surfactant, it was found that Tween 20 had a high ability to induce Silk I formation than Tween 80 at a ratio of 2.5/100 to 7.5/100 (Figure 2k,l, Figure S2). Besides, compared with Tween 80 with the value of hydrophilic lipophilic balance (HLB) at 15.0, Tween 20 with HLB at 16.7 demonstrated high hydrophilicity and stronger interaction with the polar groups of SF, 36,40 indicating the advantage of Tween 20 in SF induction for a high mechanical property.…”

Section: Regulations Of Sf Materialsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Surfactant-Boosted Silk Fibroin Microneedle Patches for Visual Glucose Detection

Peng,

Liu,

Zheng

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

1

0

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Silk fibroin (SF) has demonstrated great potential in diagnostics due to its excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. Used as microneedles (MNs), SF is a compelling option for constructing an adaptable catalyst diagnostic platform due to its high integration. However, the defective hardness and swelling of SF MNs confine further catalyst-based visional detection. Herein, we present a facile approach involving the β-sheet induction by a nonionic surfactant, Tween 20, posing an on-demand regulation of SF MNs for further visual detection. Compared with the usual nonionic surfactants (Tween 80, PEG, and PEGMSE), Tween 20 demonstrated a remarkable ability to induce β-sheet formation within SF, which subsequently could facilitate the distinctive hardness (>1.06 N/needle) and swelling (60−180%) for SF MNs. Then, the agarose-based glucose model was used for visual detection, and consequently, the glucose oxidase (GOx)-HRP-TMB-integrated SF MN patch demonstrated a significant colorimetric quantitation as glucose concentration within 25−600 mg/dL (R 2 = 0.99304). More generally, the visual detection of glucose in types of fruits revealed the high efficacy and accuracy of the SF MN patch (R 2 = 0.94724), further indicating the advantage of Tween 20-tailored SF MNs as a visual platform. These achievements provide a facile tactic to reach an alternative hardness and swelling regulation by one step for catalyst implanted based SF MNs, further revealing the great potential of SF MNs for visual diagnostic.

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“…In this fast growth, fibrous morphologies, rather than bulk ones, preferred to form because kinetic energy dissipation in the direction of the sharp fiber tips was notably easier than in other directions [19] . The branching structures were attributed to the formation of multiple nucleation sites on the growing fibers [20] . It is known that the energy required for creating a step on the surface of the crystal is typically low.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Ostwald ripening for designing time‐dependent crystal hydrogels

Liu,

Fang,

Xiong

et al. 2024

Angewandte Chemie

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ostwald ripening (OR), a classic solution theory describing molecular transfer from metastable crystal to stable one, is applied to design time‐dependent crystal hydrogels that can automatically change their mechanical properties. Using a system made from crosslinked polyacrylamide (PAM) and sodium acetate (NaAc), we demonstrate that metastable fibrous crystal networks of NaAc preferably form in PAM hydrogels via a polymer‐involving mismatch nucleation. These fibrous crystals would undergo OR and evolve into isolated bulk crystals, leading to a significant reduction in material rigidity (179 folds) and interfacial adhesion (20 folds). This transformation can be applied to program time‐dependent self‐recovery in shape and self‐delamination. Since OR is a ubiquitous, robust feature of various crystals, the approach reported here represents a new direction for designing advanced transient soft materials.

show abstract

Manipulating supramolecular gels with surfactants: Interfacial and non-interfacial mechanisms

Cited by 8 publications

References 131 publications

Ostwald ripening for designing time‐dependent crystal hydrogels

Ostwald ripening for designing time‐dependent crystal hydrogels

Surfactant-Boosted Silk Fibroin Microneedle Patches for Visual Glucose Detection

Ostwald ripening for designing time‐dependent crystal hydrogels

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