Bioinspired Supramolecular Fibers Drawn from a Multiphase Self-assembled Hydrogel

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2017 Jul 12

PMID 28696304

Citations 25

Authors

Yuchao Wu

Darshil U Shah

Chenyan Liu

Ziyi Yu

Ji Liu

Xiaohe Ren

Matthew J Rowland

Chris Abell

Michael H Ramage

Oren A Scherman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Inspired by biological systems, we report a supramolecular polymer-colloidal hydrogel (SPCH) composed of 98 wt % water that can be readily drawn into uniform ([Formula: see text]6-[Formula: see text]m thick) "supramolecular fibers" at room temperature. Functionalized polymer-grafted silica nanoparticles, a semicrystalline hydroxyethyl cellulose derivative, and cucurbit[8]uril undergo aqueous self-assembly at multiple length scales to form the SPCH facilitated by host-guest interactions at the molecular level and nanofibril formation at colloidal-length scale. The fibers exhibit a unique combination of stiffness and high damping capacity (60-70%), the latter exceeding that of even biological silks and cellulose-based viscose rayon. The remarkable damping performance of the hierarchically structured fibers is proposed to arise from the complex combination and interactions of "hard" and "soft" phases within the SPCH and its constituents. SPCH represents a class of hybrid supramolecular composites, opening a window into fiber technology through low-energy manufacturing.

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