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A composite hydrogel exhibiting stiff response at low-strain regime by repulsion effect of positive/negative Poisson’s ratio

正/负泊松比的排斥效应诱导的复合水凝胶在低应变 下的刚性响应

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Abstract

The application of hydrogels as substitutes for load-bearing tissues has garnered considerable attention. In contrast to load-bearing tissues, which can withstand complex loads with limited deformations, conventional hydrogels cannot exhibit a stiff response in the low-strain regime due to their soft natures. Herein, we reported the design of composite hydrogels inspired by the synergy between soft and hard constituents from load-bearing tissues. This design with a soft matrix (positive Poisson’s ratio) and hard skeletons (negative Poisson’s ratio) was up to 18.9 and 4.2 times stiffer than the matrix and skeleton, respectively. Instead, the combination of a soft matrix and skeletons with a positive Poisson’s ratio showed limited improvement. The underlying mechanism by the repulsion effect of positive and negative Poisson’s ratio between the soft matrix and hard skeletons was revealed using finite element analysis. This study offers insight into the future design of composite hydrogels based on the synergistic effect of soft and hard components.

摘要

水凝胶作为承载组织的替代产品引起了广泛关注. 然而, 与能够 通过有限的变形来承受复杂载荷的承载组织不同, 传统的水凝胶由于 其柔软的特性, 无法在低应变状态下表现出刚性响应. 基于承载组织的 软硬组分之间的协同作用, 我们设计了采用软基质(正泊松比)和硬框架 (负泊松比)的复合水凝胶, 其刚度分别比基质和框架高18.9和4.2倍. 相 反, 结合软基质(正泊松比)和框架(正泊松比)的设计对刚度增强有限. 通过有限元分析, 揭示了软基质与框架之间正、负泊松比斥力作用的 内在机理. 本研究为今后设计基于软硬组分协同效应的复合水凝胶提 供了思路.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars (21725401), the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0207800), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22161142021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Wei Shi  (史未), Jin Huang  (黄金), Tianxu Zhou  (周天旭), Yichao Xu  (许一超), Hao Yan  (严昊) & Mingjie Liu  (刘明杰)

  2. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Mingjie Liu  (刘明杰)

Authors
  1. Wei Shi  (史未)
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  2. Jin Huang  (黄金)
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  3. Tianxu Zhou  (周天旭)
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  4. Yichao Xu  (许一超)
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  5. Hao Yan  (严昊)
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  6. Mingjie Liu  (刘明杰)
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Contributions

Shi W, Yan H and Liu M designed the project. Shi W performed the experiments. Shi W, Yan H, Xu Y and Huang J analyzed the results. Shi W, Yan H and Liu M wrote the paper. All authors contributed to the general discussion of the article.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yichao Xu  (许一超), Hao Yan  (严昊) or Mingjie Liu  (刘明杰).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Wei Shi is a doctoral student at Beihang University. In 2017, he earned a Bachelor of Science in polymer materials and engineering from Sichuan University. Then, he joined the group of Professor Mingjie Liu at Beihang University. His current research interests center on high-performance polymer composites and their applications.

Yichao Xu is currently an Advanced Innovative Fellow at Beihang University. In 2010 and 2016, she earned her Master and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on the wave propagation in nonlinear granular and heterogeneous materials, the mechanics of auxetic metamaterials, and the design of bio-inspired functional metamaterials.

Hao Yan currently serves as an associate professor at Beihang University. He received his PhD degree in 2011 from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and then joined Professor Zhong Zhang’s research team in 2006. From 2011 to 2018, he worked at the Sinopec Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry. His current research interests center on the design of bioinspired surfaces and hydrogels.

Mingjie Liu is a full-time professor at Beihang University. In 2005, he joined Prof. Lei Jiang’s group and received his PhD degree from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010). From 2010 to 2015, he worked as a postdoc in Prof. Takuzo Aida’s group at Riken in Japan. He received the “1000 Youth Plan” grant and enrolled at Beihang University in 2015 and the National Natural Science Funds for Outstanding Young Scholars in 2017. His current research focuses on the bioinspired design and application of polymer materials.

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A composite hydrogel exhibiting stiff response at low-strain regime by repulsion effect of positive/negative Poisson’s ratio

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Shi, W., Huang, J., Zhou, T. et al. A composite hydrogel exhibiting stiff response at low-strain regime by repulsion effect of positive/negative Poisson’s ratio. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1941–1948 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2336-y

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