title: Strong and fast-recovery organic/inorganic hybrid AuNPs-supramolecular gels based on loofah-like 3D networks.
abstract: Super strong and fast-recovery organic/inorganic hybrid gold nanoparticle (AuNPs)-supramolecular gels based on a three-dimensional loofah-like nanoscale network self-assembled by polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) core supramolecular gelators are reported for the first time. Two series of POSS core organic/inorganic hybrid gelators, POSS-BOC-l-Homophenylalanine (POSS-Hpy) and POSS-Boc-Cys(Bzl)-OH (POSS-Cys), with two types of peripherals having different abilities for driving the self-assembly of AuNPs in gels were designed and synthesized, both of which self-assembled into three-dimensional loofah-like nanoscale gel networks producing hybrid physical gels with fast-recovery behaviors. The mechanical properties of the resultant hybrid gels were dramatically increased by as much as 100 times in the system of sulfur containing POSS-Cys gelators without destroying the fast-recovery behaviors, with the addition of AuNPs, which had direct interaction with AuNPs to give S-Au non-covalent driving force to lead AuNPs self-assemble onto the 3D loofah-like network nanofibres in the supramolecular hybrid gel system. However, in the POSS-Hpy gelator system without sulfur, no strong interaction with AuNPs existed and the POSS-Hpy nanocomposites showed no clear changes in morphology, thermal stability or rheological properties, confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tube-inversion and rotational rheometer measurements. This indicated that the organic/inorganic hybrid gelator POSS-Cys could be applied to the formation of soft materials in which AuNPs were self-assembled and closely arranged into three-dimensional nanoscale networks. This hybrid material has great potential for applications in self-recovery, nano- and micron-scale electronic devices, because it has both a large mechanical strength and a fast-recovery capability.
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China. wangxu@zjut.edu.cn chensi@zjut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huiwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Si
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaoqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Yining
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bozhen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Xiaosong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang