Self-assembly of sustainable plant protein protofilaments into a hydrogel for ultra-low friction across length scales
Designing plant protein-based aqueous lubricants can be of great potential to achieve sustainability objectives by capitalising on inherent functional groups without using synthetic chemicals; however, such a concept remains in its infancy. Here, we engineer a class of self-assembled sustainable materials by using plant-based protofilaments and their assembly within a biopolymeric hydrogel giving rise to a distinct patchy architecture. By leveraging physical interactions, this material offers superlubricity with friction coefficients of 0.004-to-0.00007 achieved under moderate-to-high (10<sup>2</sup>-to-10<sup>3</sup> kPa) contact pressures. Multiscale experimental measurements combined with molecular dynamics simulations reveal an intriguing synergistic mechanism behind such ultra-low friction - where the uncoated areas of the protofilaments glue to the surface by hydrophobic interactions, whilst the hydrogel offers the hydration lubrication. The current approach establishes a robust platform towards unlocking an untapped potential of using plant protein-based building blocks across diverse applications where achieving superlubricity and environmental sustainability are key performance indicators.
Authors
- Christian D. Lorenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1028-4804)
- Marco Ramaioli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0225-6558)
- Mingduo Mu
- Evangelos Liamas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9294-6343)
- Nir Kampf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6713-6979)
- Arwen I. I. Tyler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2116-1084)
- Alejandro Ávila-Sierra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0660-1400)
- Olivia Pabois (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5307-7149)
- James Doutch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0747-8368)
- Jacob Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6602-0694)
- Anwesha Sarkar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1742-2122)
- Yasmin Message
- Yihui Dong
Institutions
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (GB)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Unilever (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (GB)
- King's College London (GB)
- ParisTech (FR)
- AgroParisTech (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Paris-Saclay Food and Bioproduct Engineering Research Unit (FR)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Materials
- Published
- 2024-09-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00590-5
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.96
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- UK Research and Innovation
- British Society of Rheology
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Division of Materials Research