Given their durability and long‐term stability, self‐healable hydrogels have, in the past few years, emerged as promising replacements for the many brittle hydrogels currently being used in preclinical or clinical trials. To this end, the incompatibility between hydrogel toughness and rapid self‐healing remains unaddressed, and therefore most of the self‐healable hydrogels still face serious challenges within the dynamic and mechanically demanding environment of human organs/tissues. Furthermore, depending on the target tissue, the self‐healing hydrogels must comply with a wide range of properties including electrical, biological, and mechanical. Notably, the incorporation of nanomaterials into double‐network hydrogels is showing great promise as a feasible way to generate self‐healable hydrogels with the above‐mentioned attributes. Here, the recent progress in the development of multifunctional and self‐healable hydrogels for various tissue engineering applications is discussed in detail. Their potential applications within the rapidly expanding areas of bioelectronic hydrogels, cyborganics, and soft robotics are further highlighted.
Boron-doped graphene quantum dots (BGQDs) have been synthesized by a one-step, facile and low temperature method through the hydrothermal treatment of glucose as the precursor in the presence of boric acid. The as-obtained BGQDs possess a high B-doping content up to 4.25% of uniform nm-size. Interestingly, the effect of different types of B–C bond species on the ORR catalytic activity has been investigated to clarify the origin of the electrochemical reduction of O2. Further, the composite of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and BGQD (G-BGQDs) was also prepared as a metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The G-BGQD composites exhibit a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity, including a positive onset potential and a high current density with a one step, four-electron pathway toward the ORR, comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Among various B–C bond structures in BGQDs, the graphite-like BC3 structure is considered to be an important site for the ORR by improving the electric conductivity and electrocatalytic activity of BGQDs, which is also confirmed by a DFT study. In addition, the G-BGQD composites show an outstanding long-term operational stability and high tolerance to the methanol crossover effect, which are comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. These results demonstrate that the synthesized BGQD, as metal-free catalyst materials, may be inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts for the replacement of Pt-based catalysts toward the ORR and other electrochemical applications.
Skin tissue engineering and regeneration aim at repairing defective skin injuries and progress in wound healing. Until now, even though several developments are made in this field, it is still challenging to face the complexity of the tissue with current methods of fabrication. In this review, short, state-of-the-art on developments made in skin tissue engineering using 3D bioprinting as a new tool are described. The current bioprinting methods and a summary of bioink formulations, parameters, and properties are discussed. Finally, a representative number of examples and advances made in the field together with limitations and future needs are provided.