Achieving High-Speed Retraction in Stretchable Hydrogels.

Hydrogels mimicking elastomeric biopolymers such as resilin, responsible for power-amplified activities in biological species necessary for locomotion, feeding, and defense have applications in soft robotics and prosthetics. Here, we report a bioinspired hydrogel synthesized through a free-radical polymerization reaction. By maintaining a balance between the hydrophilic and hydrophobic components, we obtain gels with an elastic modulus as high as 100 kPa, stretchability up to 800%, and resilience up to 98%.

Thermally and pH-responsive gelation of nanoemulsions stabilized by weak acid surfactants.

Nanoemulsions are widely used in applications such as in food products, pharmaceutical ingredients and cosmetics. Moreover, nanoemulsions have been a model colloidal system due to their ease of synthesis and the flexibility in formulations that allows one to engineer the inter-droplet potentials and thus to rationally tune the material microstructures and rheological properties. In this article, we study a nanoemulsion system in which the inter-droplet interactions are modulated by temperature and pH.

Rheological properties and failure of alginate hydrogels with ionic and covalent crosslinks.

Polysaccharide-based hydrogels are being used in a wide variety of applications ranging from tissue engineering to food products due to their biocompatibility and the ease of gel formation. In real-life applications, hydrogels can undergo large strain deformation, which may result in structural damage leading to failure. Here, we report the nonlinear rheological properties and failure behavior of alginate hydrogels, a class of polysaccharide hydrogels, synthesized via ionic and covalent crosslinking.

Thermoresponsive nanoemulsion-based gel synthesized through a low-energy process.

Thermoresponsive nanoemulsions find utility in applications ranging from food to pharmaceuticals to consumer products. Prior systems have found limited translation to applications due to cytotoxicity of the compositions and/or difficulties in scaling-up the process. Here, we report a route to thermally gel an oil-in-water nanoemulsion using a small amount of FDA-approved amphiphilic triblock Pluronic copolymers which act as gelling agents.

Development of poloxamer gel formulations via hot-melt extrusion technology.

Poloxamer gels are conventionally prepared by the "hot" or the "cold" process. But these techniques have some disadvantages such as high energy consumption, requires expensive equipment and often have scale up issues. Therefore, the objective of this work was to develop poloxamer gels by hot-melt extrusion technology.

Probing Gelation and Rheological Behavior of a Self-Assembled Molecular Gel.

Molecular gels have been investigated over the last few decades; however, mechanical behavior of these self-assembled gels is not well understood, particularly how these materials fail at large strain. Here, we report the gelation and rheological behavior of a molecular gel formed by self-assembly of a low molecular weight gelator (LMWG), di-Fmoc-l-lysine, in 1-propanol/water mixture. Gels were prepared by solvent-triggered technique, and gelation was tracked using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and shear rheology.

Molecular Insights into Gelation of Di-Fmoc-l-Lysine in Organic Solvent-Water Mixtures.

Despite significant interest in molecular gels due to their intriguing structure formation through self-assembly and their stimuli-responsive behavior, our understanding of the gel formation mechanism of a low-molecular-weight gelator (LMWG) is incomplete. Here, we report a combined experimental and computational study on a LMWG, di-Fmoc-l-lysine, that has two aromatic moieties and multiple hydrogen bond donors and acceptors. Gelation in various organic solvent-water mixtures was obtained through the solvent-triggered technique.

Development of an Ointment Formulation Using Hot-Melt Extrusion Technology.

Ointments are generally prepared either by fusion or by levigation methods. The current study proposes the use of hot-melt extrusion (HME) processing for the preparation of a polyethylene glycol base ointment. Lidocaine was used as a model drug.

Nonlinear elasticity and cavitation of a triblock copolymer gel.

Polymer gels are subjected to large-strain deformation during their applications. The gel deformation at large-strain is non-linear and can often lead to failure of the material. Here, we report the large-strain deformation behavior of a physically cross-linked, swollen triblock copolymer gel, which displays unique strain-stiffening response at large-strain.