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Using a solvent-induced self-assembly approach to fabricate and tune the organogels and hydrogels

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Abstract

In the present work, stable organogels and hydrogels could be formed by dimeric-dehydrocholic acid derivative (DDAD) in different solvents. Compared with the organogels, the hydrogels formed by DDAD were found to be thermal reversible and had higher gel-to-solution transition temperature. The supramolecular structures in the organogels and hydrogels were further studied by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). TEM and AFM images of the supramolecular gels showed that the solvent effects played a crucial role in morphological structures. Specifically, the organogel had a three-dimensional porous network structure. While, the hydrogel had a supramolecular structure made up of long fibers. Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) showed that multiple hydrogen bonds among the gelator molecules were the main driving forces in gel formation. On this base, the solvent effects on the gelation abilities and thermal stability were discussed. Thus, the present study provides a solvent-induced self-assembly approach and contributes substantially to the development of the supramolecular gels as soft materials.

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Funding

We greatly appreciate the financial support of the Scientific and Technological Innovation Plan of Higher Education Institutions of Shanxi Province (No. 2021L609), the Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province (No. 202203021211102), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21802127).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Upgrading Office of Modern College of Humanities and Sciences of Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, 041000, Shanxi, China

    Ruicong Wang & Xiaoting Hao

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan, 030051, Shanxi, China

    Haikuan Yang

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  1. Ruicong Wang
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Contributions

Ruicong Wang: funding acquisition, conceptualization, methodology, and writing original draft. Xiaoting Hao: data curation, investigation, and experiment. Haikuan Yang: funding acquisition, supervision, writing — review and editing. All authors contributed to the general discussion. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Wang, R., Hao, X. & Yang, H. Using a solvent-induced self-assembly approach to fabricate and tune the organogels and hydrogels. Colloid Polym Sci 302, 163–171 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-023-05186-y

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