IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms5490.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Control superstructure of rigid polyelectrolytes in oppositely charged hydrogels via programmed internal stress

Author

Listed:
  • Riku Takahashi

    (Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University)

  • Zi Liang Wu

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University
    Present address: Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China)

  • Md Arifuzzaman

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University)

  • Takayuki Nonoyama

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University)

  • Tasuku Nakajima

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University)

  • Takayuki Kurokawa

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University)

  • Jian Ping Gong

    (Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University)

Abstract

Biomacromolecules usually form complex superstructures in natural biotissues, such as different alignments of collagen fibres in articular cartilages, for multifunctionalities. Inspired by nature, there are efforts towards developing multiscale ordered structures in hydrogels (recognized as one of the best candidates of soft biotissues). However, creating complex superstructures in gels are hardly realized because of the absence of effective approaches to control the localized molecular orientation. Here we introduce a method to create various superstructures of rigid polyanions in polycationic hydrogels. The control of localized orientation of rigid molecules, which are sensitive to the internal stress field of the gel, is achieved by tuning the swelling mismatch between masked and unmasked regions of the photolithographic patterned gel. Furthermore, we develop a double network structure to toughen the hydrogels with programmed superstructures, which deform reversibly under large strain. This work presents a promising pathway to develop superstructures in hydrogels and should shed light on designing biomimetic materials with intricate molecular alignments.

Suggested Citation

  • Riku Takahashi & Zi Liang Wu & Md Arifuzzaman & Takayuki Nonoyama & Tasuku Nakajima & Takayuki Kurokawa & Jian Ping Gong, 2014. "Control superstructure of rigid polyelectrolytes in oppositely charged hydrogels via programmed internal stress," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5490
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5490
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5490
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms5490?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5490. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.