Abstract
Approaches for regulated fluid secretion, which typically rely on fluid encapsulation and release from a shelled compartment, do not usually allow a fine continuous modulation of secretion, and can be difficult to adapt for monitoring or function-integration purposes. Here, we report self-regulated, self-reporting secretion systems consisting of liquid-storage compartments in a supramolecular polymer-gel matrix with a thin liquid layer on top, and demonstrate that dynamic liquid exchange between the compartments, matrix and surface layer allows repeated, responsive self-lubrication of the surface and cooperative healing of the matrix. Depletion of the surface liquid or local material damage induces secretion of the stored liquid via a dynamic feedback between polymer crosslinking, droplet shrinkage and liquid transport that can be read out through changes in the system's optical transparency. We foresee diverse applications in fluid delivery, wetting and adhesion control, and material self-repair.
Highlights
The droplet-gel interface will be associated with an intrinsic energy penalty, EA = nAγgl, where n, A, and γgl are the number, area and interfacial energy of the droplets,[18] such that it will generally be thermodynamically favorable for the droplets to decrease their surface area
The gel outer surface will be coated with a stable liquid film as long as the spreading factor S = γga – > 0, where γga, γla and γgl are the gel-air, liquid-air, gel-liquid interfacial tensions, respectively.[19]
The synthetic details and polymer characterization by NMR, FT-IR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), UV-Vis spectrometry and mechanical testing are provided in Supplementary Information sections 2 and 3.1, Figs
Summary
Dynamic polymer systems with self-regulated secretion for the control of surface properties and material healing Depletion of the surface liquid or local material damage induces self-regulated secretion of the stored liquid via a dynamic feedback between polymer crosslinking, droplet shrinkage and liquid transport that can be read out through changes in the system's optical transparency.
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