Molecularly-ordered Hydrogels with Controllable, Anisotropic Stimulus Response

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dc.contributor.ORCID0000-0001-7996-7393 (Ware, TH)
dc.contributor.ORCID0000-0003-3095-0640 (Boothby, JM)
dc.contributor.authorBoothby, Jennifer M.
dc.contributor.authorSamuel, Jeremy
dc.contributor.authorWare, Taylor H.
dc.contributor.utdAuthorBoothby, Jennifer M.
dc.contributor.utdAuthorSamuel, Jeremy
dc.contributor.utdAuthorWare, Taylor H.
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-14T21:56:24Z
dc.date.available2020-04-14T21:56:24Z
dc.date.issued2019-05-03
dc.descriptionDue to copyright restrictions and/or publisher's policy full text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is limited to current UTD affiliates (use the provided Link to Article).
dc.descriptionSupplementary material is available on publisher's website. Use the DOI link below.
dc.description.abstractHydrogels which morph between programmed shapes in response to aqueous stimuli are of significant interest for biosensors and artificial muscles, among other applications. However, programming hydrogel shape change at small size scales is a significant challenge. Here we use the inherent ordering capabilities of liquid crystals to create a mechanically anisotropic hydrogel; when coupled with responsive comonomers, the mechanical anisotropy in the network guides shape change in response to the desired aqueous condition. Our synthetic strategy hinges on the use of a methacrylic chromonic liquid crystal monomer which can be combined with a non-polymerizable chromonic of similar structure to vary the magnitude of shape change while retaining liquid crystalline order. This shape change is directional due to the mechanical anisotropy of the gel, which is up to 50% stiffer along the chromonic stack direction than perpendicular. Additionally, we show that the type of stimulus to which these anisotropic gels respond can be switched by incorporating responsive, hydrophilic comonomers without destroying the nematic phase or alignment. The utility of these properties is demonstrated in polymerized microstructures which exhibit Gaussian curvature in response to high pH due to emergent ordering in a micron-sized capillary. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
dc.description.departmentErik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation under Grant No. 1663367 and the Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Grant No. 1746053
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationBoothby, J. M., J. Samuel, and T. H. Ware. 2019. "Molecularly-ordered hydrogels with controllable, anisotropic stimulus response." Soft Matter 15(22): 4508-4517, doi: 10.1039/c9sm00763f
dc.identifier.issn1744-683X
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9sm00763f
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10735.1/7971
dc.identifier.volume15
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherRoyal Society of Chemistry
dc.rights©2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry
dc.source.journalSoft Matter
dc.subjectCrystals--Structure
dc.subjectColloids
dc.subjectLiquid crystals
dc.subjectArtificial muscles
dc.subjectLiquid crystals (Chromonic)
dc.subjectGaussian curvature
dc.subjectAnisotropy
dc.titleMolecularly-ordered Hydrogels with Controllable, Anisotropic Stimulus Response
dc.type.genrearticle

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