Skin is a marvel. It’s flexible yet firm, helps control body temperature, and protects our internal organs. It also can heal itself after certain injuries. Skin’s self-healing properties are partially behind the inspiration for new hydrogel research.
Researchers from Aalto University and the University of Bayreuth have developed a new hydrogel with self-healing abilities that are similar to skin. These findings, published in Nature Materials, may lead to further developments in soft robotics, wound healing, artificial skin, and drug delivery.
Creating the Hydrogel
Hydrogels are used in a variety of applications. They’re used in wound dressing to help promote faster healing and prevent infections. They’re also used in drug dispersal within the body and to help heal tissues and bones. They work great in the biomedical field because of their flexibility, water retention, and absorption.
According to the study, before this discovery, researchers had found ways to create a gel that either replicated the stiffness and flexibility of skin or the skin’s self-healing properties, but not both. Now, however, by adding “large and ultra-thin specific clay nanosheets” to hydrogels, researchers have found a material that can mimic skin’s flexibility and self-healing abilities.
“Stiff, strong, and self-healing hydrogels have long been a challenge,” said Hang Zhang, one of the study authors from Aalto University, in a press release. “We have discovered a mechanism to strengthen the conventionally soft hydrogels. This could revolutionise the development of new materials with bio-inspired properties.”
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Entanglement and UV
According to the study, besides the arrangement of the nanosheets, the arrangement of the polymers entangled between them helped create the gel. Once they were arranged, postdoctoral researcher Chen Liang mixed water containing the nanosheets with a powder of monomers. Liang then baked the mixture under a UV light, similar to those used for setting gel nail polish on a manicure or pedicure.
"The UV-radiation from the lamp causes the individual molecules to bind together so that everything becomes an elastic solid – a gel," Liang said in a press release.
The gel was then cut with a knife, and after four hours, the research team noted that the gel was about 80 to 90 percent self-healed. After 24 hours, the team found that the gel was 100 percent repaired.
"Entanglement means that the thin polymer layers start to twist around each other like tiny wool yarns, but in a random order,” said Zhang in a press release. "When the polymers are fully entangled, they are indistinguishable from each other. They are very dynamic and mobile at the molecular level, and when you cut them, they start to intertwine again.”
Hydrogel of the Future
The research team hopes that this material could be applied to other biomedical technologies or be used in soft robotics. This material could be applied to surgical robots or be used as artificial skin.
"This work is an exciting example of how biological materials inspire us to look for new combinations of properties for synthetic materials. Imagine robots with robust, self-healing skins or synthetic tissues that autonomously repair,” said Olli Ikkala, a study author from Aalto University, in a press release. ‘‘It’s the kind of fundamental discovery that could renew the rules of material design.’’
There may still be a long way to go before this new hydrogel is applied to other technology, but it’s an incredible step towards significant scientific advancements.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Nature Materials. Stiff and self-healing hydrogels by polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement
BioPharma PEG. Top 10 Applications of Hydrogels in Biomedical Field
A graduate of UW-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including one that focused on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. Her current work also appears on her travel blog and Common State Magazine. Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time binging Doctor Who.
