Spatiotemporal Regulation of Hydrogel Actuators by Autocatalytic Reaction Networks

Arpita Paikar, Alexander I Novichkov, Anton I Hanopolskyi, Viktoryia A Smaliak, Xiaomeng Sui, Nir Kampf, Ekaterina V Skorb, Sergey N Semenov*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Regulating hydrogel actuators with chemical reaction networks is instrumental for constructing life-inspired smart materials. Herein, hydrogel actuators are engineered that are regulated by the autocatalytic front of thiols. The actuators consist of two layers. The first layer, which is regular polyacrylamide hydrogel, is in a strained conformation. The second layer, which is polyacrylamide hydrogel with disulfide crosslinks, maintains strain in the first layer. When thiols released by the autocatalytic front reduce disulfide crosslinks, the hydrogel actuates by releasing the mechanical strain in the first layer. The autocatalytic front is sustained by the reaction network, which uses thiouronium salts, disulfides of beta-aminothiols, and maleimide as starting components. The gradual actuation by the autocatalytic front enables movements such as gradual unrolling, screwing, and sequential closing of "fingers." This actuation also allows the transmission of chemical signals in a relay fashion and the conversion of a chemical signal to an electrical signal. Locations and times of spontaneous initiation of autocatalytic fronts can be preprogrammed in the spatial distribution of the reactants in the hydrogel. To approach the functionality of living matter, the actuators triggered by an autocatalytic front can be integrated into smart materials regulated by chemical circuits.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2106816
Number of pages11
JournalAdvanced materials (Weinheim)
Volume34
Issue number13
Early online date15 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2022

Funding

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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