Hydrogel-Derived Soft Materials for Biomimetic and Energy-Related Functions

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Goudappagouda ◽  
Vivek Chandrakant Wakchaure ◽  
Kayaramkodath Chandran Ranjeesh ◽  
Sukumaran Santhosh Babu
Keyword(s):  
Light Harvesting ◽  
Supramolecular Assembly ◽  
Soft Materials ◽  
H2 Production ◽  
Mechanical Anisotropy ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Hydrogel Scaffolds ◽  
Final Goal

Supramolecular assembly of molecules leading to gelation of large amount of solvents is always a fascinating topic of research. In the very recent past, the exciting developments have marked hydrogels as intriguing materials with excellent features. Hydrogel scaffolds enable the accommodation of organic and/or inorganic guest materials to deliver diverse applications. Hydrogels have been exploited to generate soft materials with mechanical anisotropy, tunable rigidity, self-healing properties, as well as photocatalytic capabilities towards H2 production. Remarkably, the combination of a photocatalyst and a light-harvesting system in the gel matrix provides a unique means to photocatalytic H2 production. The biomimetic applications of hydrogels have also generated much attraction due to their potential demonstrations. The diverse applications underline the significance of such a soft gel medium to reach the final goal. Herein, important reports pertaining to the use of hydrogels as an effective way to generate advanced materials for biomimetic and energy-related issues are discussed.

scholarly journals Effect of mesoscale phase contrast on fatigue-delaying behavior of self-healing hydrogels

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (16) ◽  
pp. eabe8210
Author(s):  
Xueyu Li ◽  
Kunpeng Cui ◽  
Takayuki Kurokawa ◽  
Ya Nan Ye ◽  
Tao Lin Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crack Growth ◽  
Fatigue Resistance ◽  
Phase Contrast ◽  
Stress Singularity ◽  
Soft Materials ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Strong Phase ◽  
Mesoscale Structure ◽  
High Fatigue ◽  
Affine Deformation

We investigate the fatigue resistance of chemically cross-linked polyampholyte hydrogels with a hierarchical structure due to phase separation and find that the details of the structure, as characterized by SAXS, control the mechanisms of crack propagation. When gels exhibit a strong phase contrast and a low cross-linking level, the stress singularity around the crack tip is gradually eliminated with increasing fatigue cycles and this suppresses crack growth, beneficial for high fatigue resistance. On the contrary, the stress concentration persists in weakly phase-separated gels, resulting in low fatigue resistance. A material parameter, λtran, is identified, correlated to the onset of non-affine deformation of the mesophase structure in a hydrogel without crack, which governs the slow-to-fast transition in fatigue crack growth. The detailed role played by the mesoscale structure on fatigue resistance provides design principles for developing self-healing, tough, and fatigue-resistant soft materials.

scholarly journals The Potential of Gas Switching Partial Oxidation Using Advanced Oxygen Carriers for Efficient H2 Production with Inherent CO2 Capture

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4713
Author(s):  
Carlos Arnaiz del Pozo ◽  
Schalk Cloete ◽  
Ángel Jiménez Álvaro ◽  
Felix Donat ◽  
Shahriar Amini
Keyword(s):  
Partial Oxidation ◽  
Co2 Capture ◽  
Oxygen Carrier ◽  
H2 Production ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Oxygen Carriers ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Steam Methane ◽  
Hydrogen Supply ◽  
Energy Penalty

The hydrogen economy has received resurging interest in recent years, as more countries commit to net-zero CO2 emissions around the mid-century. “Blue” hydrogen from natural gas with CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is one promising sustainable hydrogen supply option. Although conventional CO2 capture imposes a large energy penalty, advanced process concepts using the chemical looping principle can produce blue hydrogen at efficiencies even exceeding the conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) process without CCS. One such configuration is gas switching reforming (GSR), which uses a Ni-based oxygen carrier material to catalyze the SMR reaction and efficiently supply the required process heat by combusting an off-gas fuel with integrated CO2 capture. The present study investigates the potential of advanced La-Fe-based oxygen carrier materials to further increase this advantage using a gas switching partial oxidation (GSPOX) process. These materials can overcome the equilibrium limitations facing conventional catalytic SMR and achieve direct hydrogen production using a water-splitting reaction. Results showed that the GSPOX process can achieve mild efficiency improvements relative to GSR in the range of 0.6–4.1%-points, with the upper bound only achievable by large power and H2 co-production plants employing a highly efficient power cycle. These performance gains and the avoidance of toxicity challenges posed by Ni-based oxygen carriers create a solid case for the further development of these advanced materials. If successful, results from this work indicate that GSPOX blue hydrogen plants can outperform an SMR benchmark with conventional CO2 capture by more than 10%-points, both in terms of efficiency and CO2 avoidance.

Colocalization of Light Harvesting and Catalytic Units in ‘Soft’ Coordination Polymer Hydrogel toward Visible-Light Driven Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parul Verma ◽  
Ashish Singh ◽  
Faruk Ahamed Rahimi ◽  
Tapas Kumar Maji
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Coordination Polymer ◽  
Visible Light ◽  
Hydrogen Evolution ◽  
Light Harvesting ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Supramolecular Assembly ◽  
Polymer Hydrogel ◽  
Visible Light Driven ◽  
Molecular Components

Colocalization of essential molecular components in the solvated soft supramolecular assembly towards realizing visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution would be an exciting approach for sustainable energy by generating clean solar fuel. In...

Hydrogel Scaffolds: Advanced Materials for Soft Tissue Re-growth

2011 ◽  
pp. 831-835
Author(s):  
Z. A. Abdul Hamid ◽  
A. Blencowe ◽  
J. Palmer ◽  
K. M. Abberton ◽  
W. A. Morrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soft Tissue ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Hydrogel Scaffolds

Artificial light-harvesting systems based on macrocycles-assisted supramolecular assembly in aqueous media

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiya Wang ◽  
Krishnasamy Velmurugan ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Xiao-Yu Hu
Keyword(s):  
Light Harvesting ◽  
Aqueous Media ◽  
Supramolecular Assembly ◽  
Routine Activities ◽  
Chemical Energy ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Harvesting Systems

Light-harvesting, which converts sunlight into chemical energy by natural systems such as plants, bacteria, is one of the most universal routine activities in nature. So far, various artificial light-harvesting systems...

scholarly journals Mesoscale bicontinuous networks in self-healing hydrogels delay fatigue fracture

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (14) ◽  
pp. 7606-7612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueyu Li ◽  
Kunpeng Cui ◽  
Tao Lin Sun ◽  
Lingpu Meng ◽  
Chengtao Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Fracture ◽  
Polymer Network ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Soft Materials ◽  
Biological Tissues ◽  
Crack Advance ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Hard Phase ◽  
Soft Phase ◽  
Simple Model System

Load-bearing biological tissues, such as muscles, are highly fatigue-resistant, but how the exquisite hierarchical structures of biological tissues contribute to their excellent fatigue resistance is not well understood. In this work, we study antifatigue properties of soft materials with hierarchical structures using polyampholyte hydrogels (PA gels) as a simple model system. PA gels are tough and self-healing, consisting of reversible ionic bonds at the 1-nm scale, a cross-linked polymer network at the 10-nm scale, and bicontinuous hard/soft phase networks at the 100-nm scale. We find that the polymer network at the 10-nm scale determines the threshold of energy release rateG0above which the crack grows, while the bicontinuous phase networks at the 100-nm scale significantly decelerate the crack advance until a transitionGtranfar aboveG0. In situ small-angle X-ray scattering analysis reveals that the hard phase network suppresses the crack advance to show decelerated fatigue fracture, andGtrancorresponds to the rupture of the hard phase network.

scholarly journals Smart polymers for cell therapy and precision medicine

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung-Jin Huang ◽  
Yu-Liang Tsai ◽  
Shih-Ho Lin ◽  
Shan-hui Hsu
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Cell Therapy ◽  
Shape Memory ◽  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Soft Materials ◽  
Smart Polymers ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Thermally Responsive

Abstract Soft materials have been developed very rapidly in the biomedical field over the past 10 years because of advances in medical devices, cell therapy, and 3D printing for precision medicine. Smart polymers are one category of soft materials that respond to environmental changes. One typical example is the thermally-responsive polymers, which are widely used as cell carriers and in 3D printing. Self-healing polymers are one type of smart polymers that have the capacity to recover the structure after repeated damages and are often injectable through needles. Shape memory polymers are another type with the ability to memorize their original shape. These smart polymers can be used as cell/drug/protein carriers. Their injectability and shape memory performance allow them to be applied in bioprinting, minimally invasive surgery, and precision medicine. This review will describe the general materials design, characterization, as well as the current progresses and challenges of these smart polymers.

Versatile surface-active ionic liquid: construction of microemulsions and their applications in light harvesting

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 8157-8163
Author(s):  
Krishnaiah Damarla ◽  
Sanjay Mehra ◽  
Pratap Bahadur ◽  
Debes Ray ◽  
V. K. Aswal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Ionic Liquid ◽  
Light Harvesting ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Core Shell ◽  
Surface Active Ionic Liquid ◽  
Surface Active

This article outlines a sustainable method towards the synthesis of advanced materials such as core/shell Quantum Dots (QDs) and their in situ stabilization using microemulsions (MEs).

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