Jian Niu: 1] i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China [2].
Dong Wang: 1] i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China [2].
Haili Qin: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Xiong Xiong: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Pengli Tan: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
Youyong Li: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
Rui Liu: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Xuxing Lu: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Jian Wu: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Ting Zhang: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Weihai Ni: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Jian Jin: i-LAB and Nano-Bionics Division, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech & Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Hydrogels are generally thought to be formed by nano- to micrometre-scale fibres or polymer chains, either physically branched or entangled with each other to trap water. Although there are also anisotropic hydrogels with apparently ordered structures, they are essentially polymer fibre/discrete polymer chains-based network without exception. Here we present a type of polymer-free anisotropic lamellar hydrogels composed of 100-nm-thick water layers sandwiched by two bilayer membranes of a self-assembled nonionic surfactant, hexadecylglyceryl maleate. The hydrogels appear iridescent as a result of Bragg's reflection of visible light from the periodic lamellar plane. The particular lamellar hydrogel with extremely wide water spacing was used as a soft two-dimensional template to synthesize single-crystalline nanosheets in the confined two-dimensional space. As a consequence, flexible, ultrathin and large area single-crystalline gold membranes with atomically flat surface were produced in the hydrogel. The optical and electrical properties were detected on a single gold membrane.
