Intrinsic and Extrinsic Tunability of Double-Network Hydrogel Strength and Lubricity.

ABSTRACT: Double-network (DN) hydrogels are promising materials for tissue engineering due to their biocompatibility, high strength, and toughness, but understanding of their microstructure-property relationships still remains limited. This work investigates a DN hydrogel comprising a physically crosslinked agarose, as the first network, and a chemically crosslinked copolymer with a varying ratio of acrylamide and acrylic acid, as the second network. The charge, intrinsic to most DN hydrogels, introduces a responsive behavior to chemical and electrical stimuli. The DN strengthens agarose hydrogels, but the strengthening decreases with the swelling ratio resulting from increasing acrylic acid content or reducing salt concentration. Through careful imaging by atomic force microscopy, the heterogenous

SUBMITTER: Lee MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10141240 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature