Robust Self-Healing Metallo-Supergels of Folic Acid: Potential Sustainable Gelator for Oilfield Applications
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Chemistry - A European Journal |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.202500748 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.202500748 |
| Keywords | folic acid; gel; metallogel; oil mining; rheology; supramolecular chemistry |
| Description | The majority of known metallosupramolecular gels are based on carefully designed ligands using extensive chemical synthesis. Their gelation is often limited to a certain specific metal salt. We demonstrate that in the presence of a wide group of metal salts natural and readily available folic acid (FA) can act as a supergelator. We report a systematic investigation of 17 mechanically robust FA-based metallogels at extremely low concentrations (<0.2 wt%). Using oscillatory rheological measurements, we further show that these metallogels undergo rapid recovery and self-healing, recovering up to 95% of their original stiffness within 1 min. Among the metallogels studied, FA-chromium(III) acetate gel (0.4 wt%) displayed the highest stiffness with a storage modulus of 4 kPa. More importantly, the stiffness, recovery, and sol <-> gel transitions can be readily tuned by changing either the metal salt or the concentration. Using a combination of various analytical methods, we also suggest a structure of self-assembly in the metallogel network. This study defines non-toxic FA as a robust and sustainable building block for metallogels-mechanically tunable, multi-responsive soft materials. Finally, as a proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate that the FA-chromium(III) acetate gel can be considered as a potent sustainable gellator for enhanced oil recovery applications. |
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