Large-Scale Nanofiber Manufacturing| Bamboo-inspired ultra-strongnanofiber-reinforcedcomposite hydrogels

Prof. Zhai Wei (NUS): Bamboo-Inspired Ultrastrong Nanofiber-Reinforced Composite Hydrogel

Challenge: Biological materials like bamboo are naturally optimized composites with exceptional mechanical properties. While traditional approaches extract nanofibers from natural sources for composites, this often yields suboptimal mechanical performance.

Approach: Prof. Zhai Wei's team at National University of Singapore developed a bottom-up nanofiber assembly strategy to create strong fiber-reinforced composite hydrogels inspired by bamboo's hierarchical structure.

Innovation 1: The resulting composite hydrogel exhibits outstanding mechanical properties, including high tensile strength (60.2 MPa), high toughness (48.0 MPa), and ultimate strain (470%).

Innovation 2: This approach demonstrates a hierarchical bottom-up strategy for constructing tough composite hydrogels by effectively utilizing fundamental molecular interactions. By mimicking bamboo's highly integrated structure, it provides a promising solution for creating advanced biomimetic materials with superior mechanical properties.