A mechanically stable self-pumping organohydrogel dressing with aligned microchannels for accelerated diabetic wound healing

Self-pumping dressings(SPDs)have been developed as a new type of effective material for the drainage of excessive wound exudates based on the structure of asymmetric wettability.However,current SPDs are easy to lose their asymmetric wettability due to the weak interfacial mechanical stability between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic layers.Herein,we report an integrated self-pumping organohydrogel dressing with aligned microchannels(SPD-AM),prepared by an ice-templating-assisted wetting-enabled-transfer(WET)polymerization strategy,that can accelerate the healing process of diabetic wounds.The WET polymerization strategy enables strong interfacial mechanical stability between the hydrophobic organogel and hydrophilic hydrogel layers.The aligned microchannels greatly improve the draining capability of SPDs.Taking a diabetic rat model as an example,the SPD-AM can significantly reduce the bacterial colonization with low inflammatory responses,enhance dermal remodeling by about 47.31%,and shorten wound closure time by about 1/5 compared with other dressings,ultimately accelerating diabetic wound healing.This study is valuable for developing next-generation SPDs with stable mechanical performance for clinical applications.

Water-Excluding Underwater Glue Induced by Marangoni Effect

Marangoni effect at the two-phase interface with different surface tension as a unique mass transfer phenomenon has been widely used in daily life and industrialmanufacture.However,their marvelous liquid-driving capability between miscible liquids has long been ignored,especially in water environments.Here,we first reveal a distinct underwater Marangoni effect between the solvent of glues and the water layer on solid surfaces.Driven by the Marangoni effect,organic solvents with water solubility,high dielectric constant,and low diffusivity could effectively exclude the interfacial water layer,enabling direct and effective contact between glues and solid surfaces.Our experimental results and theoretical simulation proved that a relatively large ratio of the Marangoni number in the horizontal direction and to the vertical direction ensured an effective underwater adhesion of the water-excluding glue.This surface engineering approach provides an alternative to the traditional methods of molecular engineering for realizing underwater adhesion.

Oil-polluted water purification via the carbon-nanotubes-doped organohydrogel platform

Solar-driven evaporators are promising for tackling freshwater scarcity but still challenged in simultaneously realizing comprehensive performances at one platform for sustainable and efficient application in real-world environments,such as stablefloating,scalability,salt-resistance,efficient vaporization,and anti-oil-fouling property.Herein,we design a hybrid organohydrogel evaporator to achieve the enduring oil contamination repulsion with maintaining accelerated evaporation process,and integrate capacities of ultra-stable floating,hindered salt-crystallization,large-scale fabrication for practical purification of seawater and polluted solutions.The raised water surface surrounding evaporators,induced by low density of organogel-phase,results in oil contamination resistance through the lateral capillary repulsion effect.Meanwhile,the organogel-phase containing photo-thermal carbon-nanotubes with low thermal capacity and conduction can form locally confined hot dots under solar irradiation and reduce heat dissipation on heating excessive water.Therefore,based on this approach,accelerated long-term practical purification of oilcontaminated solutions without any extra disposal is realized.Considering other properties of ultra-stable floating,large-scale fabrication,and anti-salt crystallization,these innovative organohydrogel evaporators open pathways for purifying oil-slickpolluted water via interfacial evaporation and are anticipated accelerating industrialization of efficient and sustainable solar-driven water purification.

Strong adhesion of wet conducting polymers via introducing intermediate adhesive nanolayers

The interaction and integration of the human body and various bioelectronic devices is one of the most cutting-edge issues in the development of science and technology.A long-term stable and efficient human–machine interface could bring unprecedented understanding of the human body and life.Meanwhile,it also affects the health,learning,work,life,and social safety for each of us,and promotes the development of AI(by understanding the human brain),robots,and big data.

Recent progress of tree frog toe pads inspired wet adhesive materials

Wet adhesion has widespread applications in the fields of wearable electronics,medical devices and intelligent robots.In nature,many organisms have evolved with unique wet adhesion properties to adapt to complex habitats and climb in wet environments without falling.Tree frogs,as crawling masters in tropical rain forests,are representative of wet adhesion and give novel inspirations to design artificial wet adhesive materials by mimicking their specialised hexagonal structures and/or mucus composition.In this review,we first overview the research progress of tree frog toe pads from the perspective of toe pad structure and adhesion mechanism.Then,wet adhesive materials inspired by tree frog toe pads are systematically summarised from(i)the typical polymers,(ii)the preparation approaches,(iii)the adhesion test methods and(iv)the typical artificial adhesion surfaces.Third,various applications of bioinspired wet adhesive surfaces are highlighted.Finally,we present future challenges and opportunities to develop tree frog-inspired wet adhesive materials.