Recent Progress of Fuel-Driven Temporary Materials

Fuel-driven dissipative self-assembly,which is a well-established concept in recent years,refers to out-of-equilibrium molecular self-assembly initiated and supported by the addition of active molecules (chemical fuel).It widely exists in nature since many temporary,active micro- or nanostructures in living bodies are generated by the dissipative self-assembly of biomolecules.Therefore,the study on dissipative self-assembly provides a good opportunity to have an insight into the microscopic mechanism of living organisms.In the meantime,dissipative assembly is thought to be a potential pathway to achieve dynamic,temporary supramolecular materials.Recently,a number of temporary materials have been developed with the aid of strategies for realizing dissipative self-assembly.Some of their properties,including solubility,stiffness,turbidity,color,or self-healing ability,change upon the addition of chemical fuel but spontaneously restore with chemical fuel consumption.The dynamic of these materials brings them various unprecedented functions.In this review,the principles of fabricating a fuel-driven temporary material are first reviewed.Subsequently,recent examples of fuel-driven temporary materials are emphatically summarized,including gels,self-erased inks,nanoreactors,self-healing materials,nanochannels,and droplets.Finally,the challenges of developing fuel-driven temporary materials and some perspectives on the function and application of such kind of materials are discussed.