Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands
Name
toughening-hydrogels-through-force-triggered-chemical-reactions-that-lengthen-polymer-strands.pdf
Description
Submitted version
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Author(s)
Wang, Zi
Zheng, Xujun
Ouchi, Tetsu
Kouznetsova, Tatiana B.
Beech, Haley K.
Av-Ron, Sarah
Matsuda, Takahiro
Bowser, Brandon H.
Wang, Shu
Johnson, Jeremiah A.
Date Issued
October 2021
Journal
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
Wang, Zi, Zheng, Xujun, Ouchi, Tetsu, Kouznetsova, Tatiana B, Beech, Haley K et al. 2021. "Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands." Science, 374 (6564).
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
Longer and stronger; stiff but not brittle
Hydrogels are highly water-swollen, cross-linked polymers. Although they can be highly deformed, they tend to be weak, and methods to strengthen or toughen them tend to reduce stretchability. Two papers now report strategies to create tough but deformable hydrogels (see the Perspective by Bosnjak and Silberstein). Wang et al . introduced a toughening mechanism by storing releasable extra chain length in the stiff part of a double-network hydrogel. A high applied force triggered the opening of cycling strands that were only activated at high chain extension. Kim et al . synthesized acrylamide gels in which dense entanglements could be achieved by using unusually low amounts of water, cross-linker, and initiator during the synthesis. This approach improves the mechanical strength in solid form while also improving the wear resistance once swollen as a hydrogel. —MSL
Hydrogels are highly water-swollen, cross-linked polymers. Although they can be highly deformed, they tend to be weak, and methods to strengthen or toughen them tend to reduce stretchability. Two papers now report strategies to create tough but deformable hydrogels (see the Perspective by Bosnjak and Silberstein). Wang et al . introduced a toughening mechanism by storing releasable extra chain length in the stiff part of a double-network hydrogel. A high applied force triggered the opening of cycling strands that were only activated at high chain extension. Kim et al . synthesized acrylamide gels in which dense entanglements could be achieved by using unusually low amounts of water, cross-linker, and initiator during the synthesis. This approach improves the mechanical strength in solid form while also improving the wear resistance once swollen as a hydrogel. —MSL
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg2689
