Constructing chemically fueled hydrogels of polymers

Most synthetic materials are close-to or reside-in equilibrium, however, life, the most ‘intelligent materials’ on earth, always stays away-from-equilibrium.

This non-equilibrium state is usually sustained by high energy molecules (chemical fuels) harvested from metabolic reaction cycles. This has inspired the construction of chemically fueled dissipative molecular assemblies. Currently, these chemically fueled systems mainly focus on small molecules.

Compared to small molecules, polymers show advantages in constructing 3D-bulk materials, as well as, integrating and amplifying molecular-scale changes to visible macroscopic changes. Thus, I propose to construct chemically fueled polymeric materials to overcome current limitations.

A series of dextran-based chemically fueled hydrogels are constructed by coupling with appropriate analogue metabolic reaction cycles. The resulting hydrogels are responsive to chemical fuels and have the ability of self-healing and programmable decay. The life-time of the hydrogels is controllable by manipulating the kinetics of the reaction cycles.

Controlled release of active ingredients (e.g. for drug delivery applications) from these hydrogels will be investigated. This fellowship will help me to reintegrate into the scientific community after maternity leave since 2017 in France.

The project will be interdisciplinary as it ranges from the understanding of biological materials over polymer chemistry, systems chemistry, and organic chemistry to potential biomedical applications. It will also promote the two-way transfer of knowledge between me and the host.