Artificial jelly channel inspired by the shark for sensing specific ions and environmental perturbation

作者：Sun, Peng; Qiu, Meijia; Li, Gang; Zhao, Shifan; Zhao, Jie; Mai, Wenjie; Cui, Guofeng^*

来源：Materials Today Chemistry, 2022, 26: 101047.

DOI：10.1016/j.mtchem.2022.101047

• Ampullae of Lorenzini
• High ion conductivity
• Selective diffusion behaviors
• Monitoring environmental change
• Jelly -like hydrogel

The ampullae of Lorenzini (AoL) from sharks is an important tool to ensure their well-known six-sense function. Inspired by the jelly-like substance inside AoL, we design a polymer hydrogel to mimic it and achieve some of the functions of AoL. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/polyaniline (PANI) hydrogel with an excellent ion conductivity of 10.8 mS cm(-1) presents great selectivity toward Fe and Cu ions and high sensitivity for the environmental variation. By combining electrochemical analysis and molecular dynamics simulations, the inner mechanism for sensing specific ions can be explained by the large difference in ion conductivity between various cations related to the diversity in the diffusion barrier through the fabricated jelly system. The experimental results can further be well interpreted by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation, implying the function of this AoL-inspired jelly is to sense the ion variation and environmental perturbation nearby for collecting helpful information. These results will provide potential applications with similar function as the AoL for multifunctional undersea sensors.

• 单位
  中山大学