Supramolecular Assembly of Self‐Healing Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Abstract

Hierarchical self-assembly of transient composite hydrogels is demonstrated through a two-step, orthogonal strategy using nanoparticle tectons interconnected through metal-ligand coordination complexes. The resulting materials are highly tunable with moduli and viscosities spanning many orders of magnitude, and show promising self-healing properties, while maintaining complete optical transparency.

Unveiling the molecular mechanism of self-healing in a telechelic, supramolecular polymer network

“…At the end of this period, at time t 2 the deformation is manually reduced by a small amount to reach a state of approximately zero stress. Now a dynamic measurement with a small amplitude and fixed frequency is started to follow the recovery of the elastic modulus as a function of time3132. The real part of the dynamic modulus is used to monitor the reestablishment of the disrupted network after yielding.…”

The impact of damage accumulation on the kinetics of network strength recovery for a physical polymer gel subjected to shear deformation

“…25 This "shear-rest-shear" measurement protocol is different from the oscillatory techniques used by others, 13,[17][18][19][20] in which the gel was always exposed to some small amount of deformation during the period of recovery. The applied shear rate (1 s 21 ) is also much lower than those used to shear thin materials discussed previously for the oscillation time sweeps.…”

“…16 Several methods for characterizing the fracture-healing behavior of viscoelastic gels have been proposed in literature using shear rheological experiments. 13,[17][18][19][20] These methods typically use oscillation-based measurements to evaluate postdeformation strength recovery and are similar to the tests used to measure network gelation kinetics. 21,22 For "shear thinning" injectable materials, the material's storage modulus (G 0 ) is the critical parameter used to quantify selfhealing behavior because it describes the elastic character of Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.…”

Cyclodextrin-Mediated Hierarchical Self-Assembly and Its Potential in Drug Delivery Applications

“…The most prominent examples include metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with double porosity, 5 graphene-based hybrids for energy storage devices, 11 and self-healing hybrid hydrogels reinforced with inorganic nanoparticles. 12 As in the case with microporous zeolites, hierarchical structuring of MOFs at meso/macroscopic length scales leads to a synergetic increase in their performances as drug delivery vehicles, 13,14 catalysts, 5 or integrated parts of chemical sensors. 6 Albeit, due to their versatility and functionality, soft matter building blocks are prevalent in artificially prepared nanoarchitectures.…”

“…10 The benefits of hierarchical organization in such systems compared to their conventional analogs are due to the enhancement of mass transport of substrate molecules or photopollutants in the cases of zeolites or photocatalysts respectively. [11][12][13] Also, a vast body of work has been dedicated to the development of hierarchical inorganic-organic hybrids. The most prominent examples include metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with double porosity, 5 graphene-based hybrids for energy storage devices, 11 and self-healing hybrid hydrogels reinforced with inorganic nanoparticles.…”