Mechano-Regulable and Healable Silk-Based Materials for Adaptive Applications

Mechanically adaptive materials responsive to environmental stimuli through changing mechanical properties are highly attractive in intelligent devices. However, it is hard to regulate the mechanical properties of most mechanically adaptive materials in a facile way. Moreover, it remains a challenge to achieve mechano-regulable materials with mechanical properties ranging from high strength to extreme toughness. Here, inspired by the reversible nanofibril network structure of skeletal muscle to achieve muscle strength regulation, we present a mechano-regulable biopolymeric silk fibroin (SF) composite through regulating dynamic metal-ligand coordination bonds by using water molecules as competitive regulators. Efficient interfacial hydrogen bonds between tannic acid-tungsten disulfide nanohybrids and the SF matrix endow the composite with high mechanical strength and self-healing ability. The resulting composite exhibits 837-fold change in Young's modulus (5.77 ± 0.61 GPa to 6.89 ± 0.64 MPa) after water vapor triggering, high mechanical properties (72.5 ± 6.3 MPa), and excellent self-healing efficiency (nearly 100%). The proof-of-concept ultraconformable iontronic skin and smart actuators are demonstrated, thereby providing a direction for future self-adaptive smart device applications.