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Growing demand for wound care resulting from the increasing chronic diseases and trauma brings intense pressure to global medical health service system. Artificial skin provides mechanical and microenvironmental support for wound, which is crucial in wound healing and tissue regeneration. However, challenges still remain in the clinical application of artificial skin since the lack of the synergy effect of necessary performance. In this study, a multi‐functional artificial skin is fabricated through microfluidic spinning technology by using core‐shell gel nanofiber scaffolds (NFSs). This strategy can precisely manipulate the microstructure of artificial skin under microscale. The as‐prepared artificial skin demonstrates superior characteristics including surface wettability, breathability, high mechanical strength, strain sensitivity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Notably, this artificial skin has the capability to deliver medications in a controlled and sustained manner, thereby accelerating the wound healing process. This innovative approach paves the way for the development of a new generation of artificial skin and introduces a novel concept for the structural design of the unique core‐shell gel NFSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, double network (DN) gels with dynamic non‐covalent interaction such as hydrogen bonds has drawn much attention as an innovative material having both high water content and high mechanical strength. Research efforts have identified DN gels as a promising class of materials due to their unique network architecture. These gels comprise two interpenetrating networks formed by different types of polymer. Herein, we report a tough DN hydrogel with high mechanical strength and high swelling ability. The DN gel is synthesized via a two‐step network formation. The first network gel was synthesized via frontal polymerization. Then, the first gel is immersed in an aqueous solution of a second monomer and carrying out a second polymerization in the presence of first network. The spectroscopic analysis and thermal behavior with differential scanning calorimeter measurements corroborated the existence of hydrogen bonds. The mechanical test and microscopic morphology were further explored to explain the strength and high imbibing characteristics. We expect that this facile strategy may explore a dynamic and tunable hydrogel to expand its potential applications in biomedical field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogels have been attracting much attention as smart soft materials. The exploration of methods allowing hydrogels to have anisotropic composition, structure, and properties would benefit the fabrication of smart materials with versatile multi‐functions. Here we report the rapid frontal polymerization (FP) of bilayer hydrogels possessing good water swelling, mechanical strength, self‐healing, biocompatibility, and antibacterial capabilities. The bilayer hydrogels, consisting of poly(AM‐co‐AMPS) (G‐1) and poly(AM‐co‐HPA) (G‐2) (AM, acrylamide; AMPS, 2‐acrylamide‐2‐methylpropanesulfonic acid; HPA, hydroxypropyl acrylate), are synthesized in one step within 6 minutes (min) by horizontal FP. These polymer hydrogels have hierarchical porous morphology with pore sizes of several micrometers and several hundreds of micrometers respectively, equilibrium swelling ratio up to 3371% in water, tensile strength up to 0.204 MPa, and self‐healing ability. The good cytocompatibility and low toxicity of the hydrogels are demonstrated through cell culture of L929 fibroblasts in vitro experiments. The tests of hydrogels with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus reveal their antibacterial property. The results demonstrate that biocompatible anisotropic hydrogels with versatile functions could be fabricated via the rapid and energy‐saving approach of FP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfluidic spinning technology (MST), incorporating microfluidics with chemical reactions, has gained considerable interest for constructing anisotropic advanced microfibers, especially helical microfibers. However, these efforts suffer from the limited material choices, restricting their applications. Here, a new phase inversion‐based microfluidic spinning (PIMS) method is proposed for producing helical microfibers. This method undergoes a physicochemical phase inversion process, which is capable of efficiently manufacturing strong (tensile stress of more than 25 MPa), stretchable, flexible and biocompatible helical microfibers. The helical microfibers can be used to fabricate bi‐oriented stretchable artificial abdominal skin, preventing incisional hernia formation and promoting the wound healing without conglutination. This research not only offers a universal approach to design helical microfibers but also provides a new insight into artificial skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]