In situ stimulation of self-assembly tunes the elastic properties of interpenetrated glycolipid-biopolymer biobased hydrogels

TL;DR

This study develops sustainable, biobased hydrogels with tunable elastic properties through in situ stimuli-responsive self-assembly of glycolipids and biopolymers, enabling environmentally friendly soft materials with adjustable functionality.

Contribution

It introduces a novel in situ stimulation method to tune the elastic properties of biobased hydrogels using environmentally friendly components.

Findings

Hydrogels' elastic properties can be modulated by temperature or pH stimuli.

Bioamphiphile/biopolymer hydrogels respond to external stimuli with phase transitions.

Sustainable materials can achieve high functionality through in situ self-assembly.

Abstract

Hydrogels are widespread soft materials, which can serve a wide range of applications. The control over the viscoelastic properties of the gel is of paramount importance. Ongoing environmental issues have raised the consumer's concern towards the use of more sustainable materials, including hydrogels. However, are greener materials compatible with high functionality? In a safe-by-design approach, this work demonstrates that functional hydrogels with in situ responsivity of their elastic properties by external stimuli can be developed from entirely ``sustainable'' components, a biobased amphiphile and biopolymers (gelatin, chitosan and alginate). The bioamphiphile is a stimuli-responsive glycolipid obtained by microbial fermentation, which can self-assemble into fibers, but also micelles or vesicles, in water under high dilution and by a rapid variation of the stimuli. The elastic properties of the bioamphiphile/biopolymer interpenetrated hydrogels can be modulated by selectively triggering the phase transition of the glycolipid and/or the biopolymer inside the gel by mean of temperature or pH.