Artifical Muscles: Nanocomposite Hydrogel with High Toughness for Bioactuators (Adv. Mater. 17/2009)

The inside cover shows a nanofibrous hydrogel based on ferritin for a bioinspired nanocomposite actuator, reported in work by Seon Jeong Kim and co-workers on p. 1712. The ferritin-based nanofibrous hydrogels demonstrate synergy between the ferritin protein and a synthetic polymer matrix, as the protein shell of ferritin behaves like an elastic nanospring in the polymer. The actuator is reversibly actuated by chemical energy under external tensile stress, showing improved response speed in comparison to bulk and microfiber hydrogels, coming closer to the goal of mimicking the performance of natural muscle.