Tuning Strain Stiffening of Protein Hydrogels by Charge Modification |
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| Authors: | Jie Gu Yu Guo Yiran Li Juan Wang Wei Wang Yi Cao Bin Xue |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructure, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, Ministry of Education, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; (J.G.); (Y.L.); (J.W.); (W.W.); (Y.C.);2.College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China; |
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| Abstract: | Strain-stiffening properties derived from biological tissue have been widely observed in biological hydrogels and are essential in mimicking natural tissues. Although strain-stiffening has been studied in various protein-based hydrogels, effective approaches for tuning the strain-stiffening properties of protein hydrogels have rarely been explored. Here, we demonstrated a new method to tune the strain-stiffening amplitudes of protein hydrogels. By adjusting the surface charge of proteins inside the hydrogel using negatively/positively charged molecules, the strain-stiffening amplitudes could be quantitively regulated. The strain-stiffening of the protein hydrogels could even be enhanced 5-fold under high deformations, while the bulk property, recovery ability and biocompatibility remained almost unchanged. The tuning of strain-stiffening amplitudes using different molecules or in different protein hydrogels was further proved to be feasible. We anticipate that surface charge adjustment of proteins in hydrogels represents a general principle to tune the strain-stiffening property and can find wide applications in regulating the mechanical behaviors of protein-based hydrogels. |
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| Keywords: | protein hydrogel strain-stiffening electrical repulsion surface charge mechanical property |
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