A bio-inspired self-assembled asymmetrical supramolecular film for highly-sensitive fire warning, solvent response, and smart switching

Abstract

In nature, early warning, response, and driver behaviors in different environments are essential for living organisms, which, however, is still a big challenge to be conquered in synthetic materials. Herein, an asymmetrical VGO-CB bilayer film inspired by the dermis of leaves was designed using self-assembled graphene oxide (GO) and vermiculite (V) with cucurbituril (CB). Due to the outstanding of smart fire switching of GO, a highly stable substrate of V and excellent carbon-forming of CB, the designed VGO-CB bilayer film exhibited a highly sensitive fire-warning response (0.20 s). Besides, given the asymmetrical swelling of bilayer structure and supramolecular host–guest of CB, the VGO-CB film not only presented a unique highly sensitive response in solvent vapors, humidity, self-driven, and smart switching, but also revealed controllable swift movement and bending for grabbing double weight. The bio-inspired leaves concept combines a fire alarm, response and self-driven with artificial intelligence, which provides potential applications for smart materials, early warning, and soft robotics.