Vortex-Inspired Hydrodynamic Drafting Spinning Platform for Large-Scale Preparation of Hydrogel Fibers

Abstract

Hydrogel fibers have gained considerable attention, but their large-scale production and industrial application are currently constrained. The key lies in precise diameter control and industrial manufacturing with a straightforward, energy-saving, and efficient strategy. Herein, we introduce a hydrodynamic drafting spinning platform inspired by water vortices. It employs the rotation of a nonsolvent to generate vortices and further facilitate the efficient drafting of hydrogel fibers. Through supporting equipment, we have achieved impressive results, including scalable production capabilities (1 h, single channel output of 2 × 10³ m of fibers) and extensive adaptability. Subsequently, by simply regulating the velocity difference between fiber extrusion and fluid vortex, hydrogel fibers can be drafted to any diameter from about 1 mm to 5 × 10^–2 mm (for chitosan system). Notably, this platform endows hydrogel fibers to carry functional hydrophilic or hydrophobic drugs. Equally significant, these delicate hydrogel fibers seamlessly integrate with subsequent manufacturing technologies. This allows the production of various end products, such as fiber bundles, yarns, fabrics, and nonwovens. Furthermore, the immense potential in biomedical applications has been demonstrated after obtaining hydrogel fiber-based nonwoven as wound dressings. In summary, the hydrodynamic drafting spinning platform offers an effective solution for the large-scale production of diameter-controllable, multifunctional hydrogel fibers.

The original online version of this article was revised: The original article was incorrectly published as a Review but should have been a Research Article since it is an original study. Furthermore, in the original version of this article, a wrong version of Fig. 5 was published.

The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-024-00466-w.

A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-024-00507-4.

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Keywords

Hydrogel fiber / Hydrodynamic drafting spinning platform / Large-scale production / Gentle drafting / Biomedical application

References

[1] ChaurasiaAS, SajjadiS. Transformable bubble-filled alginate microfibers via vertical microfluidics. Lab Chip, 2019, 19851

[2] LiY, WangJ, WangY, CuiWG. Advanced electrospun hydrogel fibers for wound healing. Compos B Eng, 2021, 223109101

[3] ZhangS, ChenY, LiuH, WangZ, LingH, WangC, NiJ, Celebi-SaltikB, WangX, MengX, KimHJ, BaidyaA, AhadianS, AshammakhiN, DokmeciMR, Travas-SejdicJ, KhademhosseiniA. Room-temperature-formed PEDOT:PSS hydrogels enable injectable, soft, and healable organic bioelectronics. Adv Mater, 2020, 32e1904752

[4] WangM, ChenZ, DongL, WuJ, LiC, GaoQ, ShiJ, ZhuC, MorikawaH. Conductance-stable and integrated helical fiber electrodes toward stretchy energy storage and self-powered sensing utilization. Chem Eng J, 2023, 457141164

[5] NoYJ, CastilhoM, RamaswamyY, ZreiqatH. Role of biomaterials and controlled architecture on tendon/ligament repair and regeneration. Adv Mater, 2020, 32e1904511

[6] LiY, PoonCT, LiM, LuTJ, Pingguan-MurphyB, XuF. Chinese-ooodle-inspired muscle myofiber fabrication. Adv Func Mater, 2015, 255999

[7] DuanX, YuJ, ZhuY, ZhengZ, LiaoQ, XiaoY, LiY, HeZ, ZhaoY, WangH, QuL. Large-scale spinning approach to engineering knittable hydrogel fiber for soft robots. ACS Nano, 2020, 1414929

[8] JiangS, DengJ, JinY, QianB, LvW, ZhouQ, MeiE, NeisianyRE, LiuY, YouZ, PanJ. Breathable, antifreezing, mechanically skin-like hydrogel textile wound dressings with dual antibacterial mechanisms. Bioact Mater, 2023, 21313

[9] WeiX, LiuC, WangZ, LuoY. 3D printed core-shell hydrogel fiber scaffolds with NIR-triggered drug release for localized therapy of breast cancer. Int J Pharm, 2020, 580119219

[10] UtagawaY, InoK, TakinoueM, ShikuH. Fabrication and cell culture applications of core-shell hydrogel fibers composed of chitosan/DNA interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation and calcium alginate: straight and beaded core variations. Adv Healthc Mater, 2023, 12e2302011

[11] GuanQF, HanZM, ZhuY, XuWL, YangHB, LingZC, YanBB, YangKP, YinCH, WuH, YuSH. Bio-inspired lotus-fiber-like spiral hydrogel bacterial cellulose fibers. Nano Lett, 2021, 21952

[12] LiuR, KongB, ChenY, LiuX, MiS. Formation of helical alginate microfibers using different G/M ratios of sodium alginate based on microfluidics. Sens Actuators B Chem, 2020, 304127069

[13] LiuH, LuoH, HuangJ, ChenZ, YuZ, LaiY. Programmable water/light dual-responsive hollow hydrogel fiber actuator for efficient desalination with anti-salt accumulation. Adv Funct Mater, 2023, 332302038.

[14] RinoldiC, CostantiniM, Kijenska-GawronskaE, TestaS, FornettiE, HeljakM, CwiklinskaM, BudaR, BaldiJ, CannataS, GuzowskiJ, GargioliC, KhademhosseiniA, SwieszkowskiW. Tendon tissue engineering: effects of mechanical and biochemical stimulation on stem cell alignment on cell-laden hydrogel yarns. Adv Healthc Mater, 2019, 8e1801218

[15] ChenC, TangJ, GuY, LiuL, LiuX, DengL, MartinsC, SarmentoB, CuiW, ChenL. Bioinspired hydrogel electrospun fibers for spinal cord regeneration. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 291806899.

[16] LiQ, XuZ, DuX, DuX, ChengH, WuG, WangC-F, CuiZ, ChenS. Microfluidic-directed hydrogel fabrics based on interfibrillar self-healing effects. Chem Mater, 2018, 308822

[17] GuoJ, LiuX, JiangN, YetisenAK, YukH, YangC, KhademhosseiniA, ZhaoX, YunSH. Highly stretchable, strain sensing hydrogel optical fibers. Adv Mater, 2016, 2810244

[18] YetisenAK, JiangN, FallahiA, MontelongoY, Ruiz-EsparzaGU, TamayolA, ZhangYS, MahmoodI, YangSA, KimKS, ButtH, KhademhosseiniA, YunSH. Glucose-sensitive hydrogel optical fibers functionalized with penylboronic aid. Adv Mater, 2017, 29160380

[19] ZhaoG, WuT, WangR, LiZ, YangQ, WangL, ZhouH, JinB, LiuH, FangY, WangD, XuF. Hydrogel-assisted microfluidic spinning of stretchable fibers via fluidic and interfacial self-adaptations. Sci Adv, 2023, 9eadj5407

[20] LvS, NieJ, GaoQ, XieC, ZhouL, QiuJ, FuJ, ZhaoX, HeY. Micro/nanofabrication of brittle hydrogels using 3D printed soft ultrafine fiber molds for damage-free demolding. Biofabrication, 2020, 12025015

[21] ZhaoW, ShaoF, SunF, SuZ, LiuS, ZhangT, ZhuM, LiuZ, ZhouX. Neuron-inspired sticky artificial spider silk for signal transmission. Adv Mater, 2023, 35e2300876

[22] ZhaoX, ChenF, LiY, LuH, ZhangN, MaM. Bioinspired ultra-stretchable and anti-freezing conductive hydrogel fibers with ordered and reversible polymer chain alignment. Nat Commun, 2018, 93579

[23] HouK, WangH, LinY, ChenS, YangS, ChengY, HsiaoBS, ZhuM. Large scale production of continuous hydrogel fibers with anisotropic swelling behavior by dynamic-crosslinking-spinning. Macromol Rapid Commun, 2016, 371795

[24] TamayolA, AkbariM, ZilbermanY, ComottoM, LeshaE, SerexL, BagherifardS, ChenY, FuG, AmeriSK, RuanW, MillerEL, DokmeciMR, SonkusaleS, KhademhosseiniA. Flexible pH-sensing hydrogel fibers for epidermal applications. Adv Healthc Mater, 2016, 5711

[25] YangY, SunJ, LiuX, GuoZ, HeY, WeiD, ZhongM, GuoL, FanH, ZhangX. Wet-spinning fabrication of shear-patterned alginate hydrogel microfibers and the guidance of cell alignment. Regen Biomater, 2017, 4299

[26] SongJ, ChenS, SunL, GuoY, ZhangL, WangS, XuanH, GuanQ, YouZ. Mechanically and electronically robust transparent organohydrogel fibers. Adv Mater, 2020, 32e1906994

[27] GonzalezGM, MacQueenLA, LindJU, FitzgibbonsSA, ChantreCO, HugglerI, GoleckiHM, GossJA, ParkerKK. Production of synthetic, para-aramid and biopolymer nanofibers by immersion rotary jet-spinning. Macromol Mater Eng, 2017, 3021600365

[28] ZhaoG, SuiC, MiaoL, LiJ, WenL, ChengG, ZhaoC, HaoW, SangY, LiJ, ZhangZ, ZhaoY, WangF, LiuR, HeX, WangC. Strong and continuous MXene/sodium alginate composite fibers prepared by immersion rotary jet spinning process with outstanding electromagnetic interference shielding performance. Chem Eng J, 2023, 469143983

[29] WuJ, LiuS, HeL, WangH, HeC, FanC, MoX. Electrospun nanoyarn scaffold and its application in tissue engineering. Mater Lett, 2012, 89146

[30] LiM, ChenX, LiX, DongJ, ZhaoX, ZhangQ. Wearable and robust polyimide hydrogel fiber textiles for strain sensors. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2021, 1343323

[31] ZhengH, ZuoB. Functional silk fibroin hydrogels: preparation, properties and applications. J Mater Chem B, 2021, 91238

[32] YuR, YangY, HeJ, LiM, GuoB. Novel supramolecular self-healing silk fibroin-based hydrogel via host–guest interaction as wound dressing to enhance wound healing. Chem Eng J, 2021, 417128278

[33] ZulkefliN, Che ZahariCNM, SayutiNH, KamarudinAA, SaadN, HamezahHS, BunawanH, BaharumSN, MedianiA, AhmedQU, IsmailAFH, SarianMN. Flavonoids as potential wound-healing molecules: emphasis on pathways Pperspective. Int J Mol Sci, 2023, 244607

[34] FarajiS, NowrooziN, NouralishahiA, ShabaniSJ. Electrospun poly-caprolactone/graphene oxide/quercetin nanofibrous scaffold for wound dressing: evaluation of biological and structural properties. Life Sci, 2020, 257118062

[35] KhaliqT, SohailM, MinhasMU, Ahmed ShahS, JabeenN, KhanS, HussainZ, MahmoodA, KousarM, RashidH. Self-crosslinked chitosan/kappa-carrageenan-based biomimetic membranes to combat diabetic burn wound infections. Int J Biol Macromol, 2022, 197157

[36] NguyenTLA, BhattacharyaD. Antimicrobial activity of quercetin: an approach to its mechanistic principle. Molecules, 2022, 272494

[37] WengH, JiaW, LiM, ChenZ. New injectable chitosan-hyaluronic acid based hydrogels for hemostasis and wound healing. Carbohydr Polym, 2022, 294119767

[38] DalissonB, BarraletJ. Bioinorganics and wound healing. Adv Healthc Mater, 2019, 8e1900764

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.81770091)

Science and Technology Innovation Plan Of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission(No. 20DZ2253700)

Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(No. 20YF1440900)

Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital(No. FKCX1906)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Donghua University, Shanghai, China