Abstract:
Biomass-encapsulated liquid metals (LMs) composite gels have aroused tremendous attention as epidermal smart materials due to their biocompatibility and sustainability. However, they can still not simultaneously possess toughness, adhesion, and recoverability. In this work, the tough, sticky, and recyclable protein-encapsulated LMs organogels (GLMx) are fabricated through the micro-interfacial stabilization of LMs by lignin and the following preparation of food-making inspired gels. With the help of lignin modification, the LMs micro-drops demonstrated uniform dispersion in the protein matrix, as well as dense non-covalent interactions (e.g., H─bond and hydrophobic interaction) with amino acid residues in peptide chains, which endowed the GLMx with high conductivity (≈5.4 S m-1), toughness (≈738.2 kJ m-3), self-adhesiveness (a maximal lap-shear strength of ≈58.3 kPa), and recoverability. By tightly adhering onto human skin, the GLMx can act as epidermal sensors to detect drastic (e.g., joint bending) and subtle body movements (e.g., swallowing) and even recognize handwriting and speaking in real-time. Moreover, the organogels can also harvest solar energy and convert it into heat and electricity, which is promising in self-powered intelligent devices. Thus, this work paves a facile way to prepare protein/LMs composite organogels that are suitable for multiple applications like healthcare, human-robot interactions, and solar energy conversion.
摘要:
生物质包裹的液态金属(LM)复合凝胶由于其生物相容性和可持续性而作为表皮智能材料引起了极大的关注。然而,它们仍然不能同时具有韧性,附着力,和可恢复性。在这项工作中,艰难的,粘稠,和可回收的蛋白质包封的LMs有机凝胶(GLMx)是通过木质素对LMs的微界面稳定以及以下食品制造启发凝胶的制备来制造的。在木质素改性的帮助下,LM微滴在蛋白质基质中表现出均匀分散,以及密集的非共价相互作用(例如,H─键和疏水相互作用)与肽链中的氨基酸残基,这赋予了GLMx高电导率(≈5.4Sm-1),韧性(≈738.2kJm-3),自粘性(最大搭接剪切强度约58.3kPa),和可恢复性。通过紧紧地粘附在人类皮肤上,GLMx可以充当表皮传感器来检测剧烈的(例如,关节弯曲)和微妙的身体运动(例如,吞咽),甚至实时识别手写和说话。此外,有机凝胶还可以收集太阳能并将其转化为热能和电能,这在自供电智能设备中很有前途。因此,这项工作为制备适用于医疗保健等多种应用的蛋白质/LMs复合有机凝胶提供了一种简便的方法,人机交互,和太阳能转换。