Large-Scale Nanofiber Manufacturing| Establishingsuperfine nanofibrils for robustpolyelectrolyte artificial spider silk and powerfulartificialmuscles

Nat. Commun. (IF 14.7): Ultrathin Nanofibers! High-Strength Polyelectrolyte Artificial Spider Silk and High-Performance Artificial Muscles

Challenge: Multifunctional fiber materials with excellent mechanical and actuation properties have great potential in energy dissipation, soft robotics, flexible electronics, and biomedical applications. However, simultaneously improving mechanical and actuation performance remains challenging.

Approach: A collaboration between Academician Zhu Meifang (Donghua University), Prof. Liu Zunfeng (Nankai University), and Prof. Zhou Xiang (China Pharmaceutical University) developed high-strength polyelectrolyte artificial spider silk with an ultrathin nanofiber structure and constructed high-performance thermally-driven artificial muscles.

Innovation 1: The nanofibers were formed by polymer chain self-assembly under external stress during solvent evaporation. By adjusting polymer chain dissociation, the team optimized self-assembly to create ultrathin nanofibers, achieving widely tunable mechanical properties.

Innovation 2: Beyond mechanical strength, polyacrylic acid fibers exhibit exceptional thermal supercontraction. The highly aligned nanofiber structure enables ultrahigh actuation performance, with stress up to 65 MPa and work density reaching 2.77 J/g.