The role of water mobility on water-responsive actuation of silk

Darjan Podbevšek, Yeojin Jung, Maheen K. Khan, Honghui Yu, Raymond S. Tu () and Xi Chen ()
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Darjan Podbevšek: Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Yeojin Jung: Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Maheen K. Khan: Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Honghui Yu: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The City College of New York
Raymond S. Tu: Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Xi Chen: Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Biological water-responsive materials that deform with changes in relative humidity have recently demonstrated record-high actuation energy densities, showing promise as high-performance actuators for various engineering applications. However, there is a lack of theories capable of explaining or predicting the stress generated during water-responsiveness. Here, we show that the nanoscale confinement of water dominates the macroscopic dehydration-induced stress of the regenerated silk fibroin. We modified silk fibroin’s secondary structure, which leads to various distributions of bulk-like mobile and tightly bound water populations. Interestingly, despite these structure variations, all silk samples start to exert force when the bound-to-mobile (B/M) ratio of confined water reaches the same level. This critical B/M water ratio suggests a common threshold above which the chemical potential of water instigates the actuation. Our findings serve as guidelines for predicting and engineering silk’s WR behavior and suggest the potential of describing the WR behavior of biopolymers through confined water.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52715-6

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