Paper Number
AB23
Session
Active and Biological Materials
Title
Metal-coordination crosslink dynamics: A bio-inspired toolbox for engineering hydrogel mechanics
Presentation Date and Time
October 13, 2021 (Wednesday) 11:30
Track / Room
Track 2 / Ballroom 7
Authors
- Holten-Andersen, Niels (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Author and Affiliation Lines
Niels Holten-Andersen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Speaker / Presenter
Holten-Andersen, Niels
Keywords
applied rheology; biological materials; composites; gels
Text of Abstract
Growing evidence supports a critical role of metal-coordination complex crosslinking in soft biological material properties such as underwater adhesion, extraorganismal self-assembly and autonomous self-healing. Given their exploitation in such desirable material applications in nature, bio-inspired metal-coordinate complex crosslinking likely offers unique possibilities to further advance sustainable polymer materials engineering. Using bio-inspired metal-binding polymers, growing efforts to mimic these material properties have shown promise. Recently we explored how in situ mechanical reinforcement of polymer hydrogels via metal-coordinated crosslink mineralization can potentially be utilized as a simple method for designing mineralized soft composites. Early lessons from these studies will be presented.