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Soft materials are materials that can be easily deformed by thermal stresses or thermal fluctuations at about room temperature. Soft materials include liquids, polymers, foams, gels, colloids, granular materials, as well as most soft biological materials.
Soft pressure sensors drift under prolonged high stress because of the creep of soft materials, which causes inaccurate measurements. Now, through molecular-level design, a leakage-free and creep-free polyelectrolyte elastomer is synthesized, and an iontronic sensor using the polyelectrolyte elastomer shows very low signal drift under a high static pressure.
Pentagonal polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based giant atoms self-assemble into Frank–Kasper phases that have not been previously observed in soft-matter systems.
Interest in protein-based fibers is driven by their unique properties, including biocompatibility and biodegradability. This Review summarizes the synthesis and properties of biomimetic protein fibers, such as keratin, collagen, elastin and silk fibers, and their application in energy, air and water treatment, and biomedical uses.
Perception plays a pivotal role in advancing future intelligent textiles. Here, the authors develop smart perceptual textiles using natural-derived ionic-conductive silk fibers. These textiles can electrically detect external hazards and precisely pinpointing human touch, making them suitable for smart protective clothing and soft human-machine interfaces.
Natural rubber exhibits the strain-induced crystallization (SIC). By using WAXD, the orientation of NR crystal formed by SIC under planar elongation was revisited. We found that the orientational state of the crystal lattice possesses a continuous margin of the orientation angle between 6.4 and 19.6° for the ac plane with respect to the surface of the specimen sheet in the real NR specimen. This orientational state could be accomplished as a result of balancing the preferential parallel orientation of (120) planes (the slip planes) and C = C planes with respect to the surface of the specimen sheet.
It is useful to be able to equip marine animals with sensors, but it can be challenging to attach these to soft marine organisms. Here, the authors use an adhesive hydrogel to achieve rapid attachment of sensors to marine life including jellyfish, squid and lobster.
Helical protein assemblies are an important biological structure, but are challenging to mimic with synthetic materials. Here, the authors report the use of peptoids to form nanohelix structures with controllable supramolecular chirality.
Soft pressure sensors drift under prolonged high stress because of the creep of soft materials, which causes inaccurate measurements. Now, through molecular-level design, a leakage-free and creep-free polyelectrolyte elastomer is synthesized, and an iontronic sensor using the polyelectrolyte elastomer shows very low signal drift under a high static pressure.
Pentagonal polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based giant atoms self-assemble into Frank–Kasper phases that have not been previously observed in soft-matter systems.
Boroxines, resulting from the reversible dehydration of boronic acids, have been incorporated as structural units into functional materials and molecular assemblies, but their applicability is restricted to non-aqueous environments owing to their inherent water instability. Now, a boroxine structure spontaneously formed from the 2-hydroxyphenylboronic acid dimer enables water-compatible dynamic B–O covalent bonds, expanding their future applicability.
Ageing is a non-linear, irreversible process that defines many properties of glassy materials. Now, it is shown that the so-called material-time formalism can describe ageing in terms of equilibrium-like properties.