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Cho YE, Park JM, Song WJ, Lee MG, Sun JY. Solvent Engineering of Thermo-Responsive Hydrogels Facilitates Strong and Large Contractile Actuations. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2024:e2406103. [PMID: 39036840 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202406103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 06/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
Thermo-responsive hydrogels can generate the actuation force through volumetric transitions in response to temperature changes. However, their weak mechanical properties and fragile actuation performance limit robust applications. Existing approaches to enhance these properties have typically depended on additional components, leading to an unavoidable interference to the actuation performance. In this work, robust thermo-responsive hydrogels are fabricated through solvent engineering. A particular solvent, N-methylformamide, interacts affinitively with the carbonyl group of N-isopropylacrylamide monomer, solubilizes the monomer with extremely high concentration, stabilizes chain propagation during polymerization, and greatly increases chain lengths and entanglements of the resulting polymer. The synthesized hydrogels are highly elastic, strong, and tough, displaying remarkable thermo-responsive contractile actuation. The simple synthetic process can broaden its applicability in designing robust functional hydrogel applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Eun Cho
- Departmant of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Jae-Man Park
- Departmant of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Won Jun Song
- Departmant of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Min-Gyu Lee
- Departmant of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeong-Yun Sun
- Departmant of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
- Research Institute of Advanced Materials (RIAM), Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
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Zhou X, Zhou K, Tang L, Chen Z, Hu Q, Gao J, Zhang Y, Zhang J, Zhang S. A Strong and Highly Transparent Ionogel Electrolyte Enabled by In Situ Polymerization-Induced Microphase Separation for High-Performance Electrochromic Devices. Macromol Rapid Commun 2024; 45:e2300736. [PMID: 38697133 DOI: 10.1002/marc.202300736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
Electrochromic devices built with ionogel electrolytes are seen as a pivotal step toward the future of quasi-solid electrochromic devices, due to their striking properties like exceptional safety and high ionic conductivity. Yet, the poor mechanical strength of electrolyte of these devices remains a constraint that hampers their advancement. As a resolution, this research explores the use of a robust, transparent ionogel electrolyte, which is designed using an in situ microphase separation strategy. The ionogels are highly transparent and robust and exhibit excellent physicochemical stability, including a wide electrochemical window and high temperature tolerance. Benefitting from these properties, a high-performance electrochromic device is fabricated through in situ polymerization with the ionogels, PPRODOT as the electrochromic layer, and PEDOT: PSS as the ion storage layer, achieving high transmittance contrast (43.1%), fast response (1/1.7 s), high coloring efficiency (1296.4 cm2 C-1), and excellent cycling endurance (>99.9% retention after 2000 cycles). In addition, using ITO-poly(ethylene terephthalate) as flexible substrates, a deformable electrochromic device displaying high stability is realized, highlighting the potential use in functional wearables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuan Zhou
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Kaijian Zhou
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Liang Tang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Zhanying Chen
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Qinyu Hu
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Jie Gao
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Yan Zhang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Jun Zhang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
| | - Shiguo Zhang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, 410004, China
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Ye Z, Zhang H, Riggleman RA. Local dynamics and failure of inhomogeneous polymer networks. SOFT MATTER 2024; 20:4734-4743. [PMID: 38836817 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm00087k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Inhomogeneous crosslinked polymers are powerful platforms for materials design, because they can be synthesized from materials that provide complimentary properties to the resulting gel. For example, a membrane with both glassy and rubbery domains will be mechanically robust while enabling transport. The dynamics, and mechanical and failure properties of rubbery/glassy conetworks are only beginning to be studied, and there is likely to be strong heterogeneities in the dynamics and mechanical response. In this study, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to generate microphase separated rubbery/glassy polymer networks with a bicontinuous morphology via in silico crosslinking. We study the effect of phase boundary on the local mobility gradient, and our simulation results reveal an asymmetric shift in the local mobility gradient across the interface that extends deeper into the phase with a lower Tg when the system temperature is between the glass transition temperatures of the two phases. Moreover, by employing a model that allows bond breaking, we examine the microscopic mechanism for failure in these networks as a function of the molecular weight of polymer strands between crosslinks and the number fraction of the glassy domain. Under uniaxial extension, we find that the stress is initially larger in the glassy domain. As the deformation proceeds, the segmental dynamics of the two phases homogenize, and subsequently bond breaking begins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyu Ye
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Han Zhang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Robert A Riggleman
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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Es Sayed J, Mukherjee A, El Aani S, Vengallur N, Koch M, Giuntoli A, Kamperman M. Structure-Property Relationships of Granular Hybrid Hydrogels Formed through Polyelectrolyte Complexation. Macromolecules 2024; 57:3190-3201. [PMID: 38616812 PMCID: PMC11008357 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c02335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Hybrid hydrogels are hydrogels that exhibit heterogeneity in the network architecture by means of chemical composition and/or microstructure. The different types of interactions, together with structural heterogeneity, which can be created on different length scales, determine the mechanical properties of the final material to a large extent. In this work, the microstructure-mechanical property relationships for a hybrid hydrogel that contains both electrostatic and covalent interactions are investigated. The hybrid hydrogel is composed of a microphase-separated polyelectrolyte complex network (PEC) made of poly(4-styrenesulfonate) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) within a soft and elastic polyacrylamide hydrogel network. The system exhibits a granular structure, which is attributed to the liquid-liquid phase separation into complex coacervate droplets induced by the polymerization and the subsequent crowding effect of the polyacrylamide chains. The coacervate droplets are further hardened into PEC granules upon desalting the hydrogel. The structure formation is confirmed by a combination of electron microscopic imaging and molecular dynamics simulations. The interpenetration of both networks is shown to enhance the toughness of the resulting hydrogels due to the dissipative behavior of the PEC through the rupture of electrostatic interactions. Upon cyclic loading-unloading, the hydrogels show recovery of up to 80% of their original dissipative behavior in less than 300 s of rest with limited plasticity. The granular architecture and the tough and self-recoverable properties of the designed hybrid networks make them good candidates for applications, such as shape-memory materials, actuators, biological tissue mimics, and elastic substrates for soft sensors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Es Sayed
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Adrivit Mukherjee
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- Engineering
and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Siham El Aani
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Nayan Vengallur
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marcus Koch
- INM
− Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2.2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Andrea Giuntoli
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marleen Kamperman
- Zernike
Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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Zhu R, Zhu D, Zheng Z, Wang X. Tough double network hydrogels with rapid self-reinforcement and low hysteresis based on highly entangled networks. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1344. [PMID: 38350981 PMCID: PMC10864390 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45485-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Most tough hydrogels are reinforced by introducing energy dissipation mechanisms, but simultaneously realizing a high toughness and low hysteresis is challenging because the energy dissipation structure cannot recover rapidly. In this work, high mechanical performance highly entangled double network hydrogels without energy dissipation structure are fabricated, in which physical entanglements act as the primary effective crosslinking in the first network. This sliding entanglement structure allows the hydrogel network to form a highly uniform oriented structure during stretching, resulting in a high tensile strength of ~3 MPa, a fracture energy of 8340 J m-2 and a strain-stiffening capability of 47.5 in 90% water content. Moreover, almost 100% reversibility is obtained in this hydrogel via energy storage based on entropy loss. The highly entangled double network structure not only overcomes the typical trade-off between the high toughness and low hysteresis of hydrogels, but more importantly, it provides an insight into the application of entanglement structures in high-performance hydrogels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruixin Zhu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Dandan Zhu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Zhen Zheng
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Xinling Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
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Kusters GLA, Zhang G, Chen Z, Suo Z. Amphiphilic monomers bridge hydrophobic polymers and water. SOFT MATTER 2023. [PMID: 38031662 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01129a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Water dissolves a hydrophilic polymer, but not a hydrophobic polymer. Many monomers of hydrophilic polymers, however, are amphiphilic, with a hydrophobic vinyl group for radical polymerization, as well as a hydrophilic group. Consequently, such an amphiphilic monomer may form solutions with both water and hydrophobic polymers. Ternary mixtures of amphiphilic monomer, hydrophobic polymer, and water have recently been used as precursors for interpenetrating polymer networks of hydrophilic polymers and hydrophobic polymers of unusual properties. However, the phase behavior of the ternary mixtures of amphiphilic monomer, hydrophobic polymer, and water themselves has not been studied. Here we mix the amphiphilic monomer acrylic acid, the hydrophobic polymer poly(methyl methacrylate), and water. In the mixture, the hydrophobic polymer can form various morphologies, including solution, micelle, gel, and polymer glass. We interpret these findings by invoking that the hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups of the amphiphilic monomer enable it to function as a bridge. That is, the hydrophobic functional group binds with the hydrophobic polymer, and the hydrophilic functional group binds with water. This picture leads to a simple modification to the Flory-Huggins theory, which agrees well with our experimental data. Amphiphilic monomers offer a rich area for further study for scientific insight, as well as for expanding opportunities to develop materials of self-assembled structures with unusual properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guido L A Kusters
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA.
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven 5612AZ, The Netherlands
| | - Guogao Zhang
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA.
| | - Zheqi Chen
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA.
- College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Zhigang Suo
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, MA 02138, USA.
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