Biomimetic Strain-Stiffening Self-Assembled Hydrogels

Supramolecular structures with strain-stiffening properties are ubiquitous in nature but remain rare in the lab. Herein, we report on strain-stiffening supramolecular hydrogels that are entirely produced through the self-assembly of synthetic molecular gelators. The involved gelators self-assemble into semi-flexible fibers, which thereby...

Self-orienting hydrogel micro-buckets as novel cell carriers

Hydrogel microparticles are important in materials engineering, but their applications remain limited owing to the difficulties associated with their manipulation. Herein, we report the self-orientation of crescent-shaped hydrogel microparticles and elucidate its mechanism. Additionally, the microparticles were used, for the first time, as...

A nano-fibrous platform of copolymer patterned surfaces for controlled cell alignment

The last decade has witnessed great progress in understanding and manipulating self-assembly of block copolymers in solution. A wide variety of micellar structures can be created and many promising applications in bioscience have been reported. In particular, nano-fibrous micelles provide a great platform to mimic the filamentous structure of...

Two Robust Strategies toward Hydrogels from Quenched Block Copolymer Nanofibrillar Micelles

While the formation of (tri)block copolymer hydrogels has been extensively investigated, such studies mostly focused on equilibrium self-assembling whereas the use of preformed structures as building blocks such as out of equilibrium, quenched, nanofibrillar micelles is still a challenge. Here, we demonstrate that quenched, ultralong...