Bio-Inspired Superhydrophilic Urchin-Like Supramolecular Structures Formed by Co-Assembly of Simple Metabolites
4 affiliations
- 1The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- 2Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Hanamkonda, Telangana 506004, India
- 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- 4Jan Koum Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
Abstract
Numerous natural surfaces exhibit unique wetting behaviors, typically attributed to a synergy between two-tier micro/nanoscale hierarchical structures and specific material chemistry. Replicating these surfaces is often challenging because it relies on harsh, complex synthesis methods for inorganic materials. As a versatile extension of traditional self-assembly, heterogeneous molecular assembly offers a programmable route toward complex hierarchical biomimicry. Here, we study the coassembly of two simple metabolites, riboflavin and 2,6-diaminopurine, to demonstrate this approach for constructing functional materials. We found that the co-assembled structures exhibit an urchin-like morphology and employed various characterization methods to investigate the interaction between the two metabolite building blocks. The co-assembled structures exhibit superhydrophilic characteristics that were not achieved with unimolecular components, underscoring the advantages of a co-assembled system. Although the unimolecular components are hydrophilic and possess surface hydrophilic groups, as demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, this alone is insufficient to construct a superhydrophilic surface. This was confirmed by measuring the water contact angle (WCA) of the coated hydrophilic glass coverslip in contact with the co-assembled structures and the unimolecular components, which rendered the glass superhydrophilic. Inspired by the amphiphilic nature of the Namib desert beetle’s back used for water harvesting, we coated a hydrophobic surface with the co-assembled structures. This modification transformed the surface to superhydrophilic, highlighting the importance of surface texture in conjunction with surface chemistry in establishing superwetting behavior. This study provides important insights into the interplay between the coassembly of metabolite building blocks and functional materials and establishes an innovative yet simple design route for developing functional surfaces.
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BibTeX
@article{aizen2026bioinspired,
title = {{Bio-Inspired Superhydrophilic Urchin-Like Supramolecular Structures Formed by Co-Assembly of Simple Metabolites}},
author = {Ruth Aizen and Om Shanker Tiwari and Gal Finkelstein-Zuta and Pini Shekhter and Davide Levy and Ehud Gazit},
journal = {Langmuir},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c03644},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c03644},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bio-Inspired Superhydrophilic Urchin-Like Supramolecular Structures Formed by Co-Assembly of Simple Metabolites
AU - Ruth Aizen
AU - Om Shanker Tiwari
AU - Gal Finkelstein-Zuta
AU - Pini Shekhter
AU - Davide Levy
AU - Ehud Gazit
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
JO - Langmuir
DO - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c03644
UR - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c03644
AB - Numerous natural surfaces exhibit unique wetting behaviors, typically attributed to a synergy between two-tier micro/nanoscale hierarchical structures and specific material chemistry. Replicating these surfaces is often challenging because it relies on harsh, complex synthesis methods for inorganic materials. As a versatile extension of traditional self-assembly, heterogeneous molecular assembly offers a programmable route toward complex hierarchical biomimicry. Here, we study the coassembly of two simple metabolites, riboflavin and 2,6-diaminopurine, to demonstrate this approach for constructing functional materials. We found that the co-assembled structures exhibit an urchin-like morphology and employed various characterization methods to investigate the interaction between the two metabolite building blocks. The co-assembled structures exhibit superhydrophilic characteristics that were not achieved with unimolecular components, underscoring the advantages of a co-assembled system. Although the unimolecular components are hydrophilic and possess surface hydrophilic groups, as demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, this alone is insufficient to construct a superhydrophilic surface. This was confirmed by measuring the water contact angle (WCA) of the coated hydrophilic glass coverslip in contact with the co-assembled structures and the unimolecular components, which rendered the glass superhydrophilic. Inspired by the amphiphilic nature of the Namib desert beetle’s back used for water harvesting, we coated a hydrophobic surface with the co-assembled structures. This modification transformed the surface to superhydrophilic, highlighting the importance of surface texture in conjunction with surface chemistry in establishing superwetting behavior. This study provides important insights into the interplay between the coassembly of metabolite building blocks and functional materials and establishes an innovative yet simple design route for developing functional surfaces.
SN - 0743-7463
SN - 1520-5827
ER -