Unusual multiscale mechanics of biomimetic nanoparticle hydrogels

Yunlong Zhou (), Pablo F. Damasceno, Bagganahalli S. Somashekar, Michael Engel, Falin Tian, Jian Zhu, Rui Huang, Kyle Johnson, Carl McIntyre, Kai Sun, Ming Yang, Peter F. Green, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, Sharon C. Glotzer and Nicholas A. Kotov ()
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Yunlong Zhou: School of Ophthalmology and Optometry and Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University
Pablo F. Damasceno: University of Michigan
Bagganahalli S. Somashekar: University of Michigan
Michael Engel: University of Michigan
Falin Tian: School of Ophthalmology and Optometry and Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University
Jian Zhu: University of Michigan
Rui Huang: University of Michigan
Kyle Johnson: University of Michigan
Carl McIntyre: University of Michigan
Kai Sun: University of Michigan
Ming Yang: University of Michigan
Peter F. Green: University of Michigan
Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy: University of Michigan
Sharon C. Glotzer: University of Michigan
Nicholas A. Kotov: University of Michigan

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Viscoelastic properties are central for gels and other materials. Simultaneously, high storage and loss moduli are difficult to attain due to their contrarian requirements to chemical structure. Biomimetic inorganic nanoparticles offer a promising toolbox for multiscale engineering of gel mechanics, but a conceptual framework for their molecular, nanoscale, mesoscale, and microscale engineering as viscoelastic materials is absent. Here we show nanoparticle gels with simultaneously high storage and loss moduli from CdTe nanoparticles. Viscoelastic figure of merit reaches 1.83 MPa exceeding that of comparable gels by 100–1000 times for glutathione-stabilized nanoparticles. The gels made from the smallest nanoparticles display the highest stiffness, which was attributed to the drastic change of GSH configurations when nanoparticles decrease in size. A computational model accounting for the difference in nanoparticle interactions for variable GSH configurations describes the unusual trends of nanoparticle gel viscoelasticity. These observations are generalizable to other NP gels interconnected by supramolecular interactions and lead to materials with high-load bearing abilities and energy dissipation needed for multiple technologies.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02579-w

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