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Published on: April 19, 2015
Self-Assembly Reinforced Alginate Fibers for Enhanced Strength, Toughness, and Bone Regeneration
Min Cui1, Shuwei Liu2, Xuelai Xie1
1State Key Laboratory of Bio-Fibers and Eco-textiles, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Biobased Fibers and Ecological Textiles, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Material reinforcement commonly exists in a contradiction between strength and toughness enhancement. Herein, a reinforced strategy through self-assembly is proposed for alginate fibers. Sodium alginate (SA) microstructures with regulated secondary structures are assembled in acidic and ethanol as reinforcing units for alginate fibers. Acidity increases the flexibility of the helix and contributes to enhanced extendibility. Ethanol is responsible for formation of a stiff β-sheet, which enhances the modulus and strength. The structurally engineered SA assembly exhibits robust mechanical compatibility, and thus reinforced alginate fibers possess an improved tensile strength of 2.1 times, a prolonged elongation of 1.5 times, and an enhanced toughness of 3.0 times compared with SA fibers without reinforcement. The reinforcement through self-assembly provides an understanding of strengthening and toughening mechanism based on secondary structures. Due to a similar modulus with bones, reinforced alginate fibers exhibit good efficacy in accelerating bone regeneration in vivo.
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