1 research outputs found
Enzyme-Regulated Fast Self-Healing of a Pillararene-Based Hydrogel
Self-healing,
one of the exciting properties of materials, is frequently
used to repair the damage of biological and artificial systems. Here
we have used enzymatic catalysis approaches to develop a fast self-healing
hydrogel, which has been constructed by dynamic aldimine cross-linking
of pillar[5]Âarene-derivant and dialdehyde-functionalized PEG followed
by encapsulation of glucose oxidase (GOx) and catalase (CAT). In specific,
the two hydroxyl groups at terminal of PEG<sub>4000</sub> are functionalized
with benzaldehydes that can interact with amino-containing pillar[5]Âarene-derivant
through dynamic aldimine cross-links, resulting in reversible dynamic
hydrogels. Modulus analysis indicated that storage modulus (<i>G</i>′) and loss modulus (<i>G</i>″)
of the hydrogel increased obviously as the concentration of dialdehyde-functionalized
PEG<sub>4000</sub> (DF-PEG<sub>4000</sub>) increased or the pH values
decreased. Once glucose oxidase (GOx) and catalase (CAT) are located,
the hydrogel could be fast repaired, with self-healing efficiency
up to 100%. Notably tensile test showed that the repair process of
pillararene-based hydrogel can finish in several minutes upon enzyme
catalysis, while it needed more than 24 h to achieve this recovery
without enzymes. This enzyme-regulated self-healing hydrogel would
hold promise for delivering drugs and for soft tissue regeneration
in the future