Fast Recovery Double-Network Hydrogels Based on Particulate Macro-RAFT Agents.

ABSTRACT: Synthetic hydrogels struggle to match the high strength, toughness, and recoverability of biological tissues under periodic mechanical loading. Although the hydrophobic polymer chain of polystyrene (PS) may initially collapse into a nanosphere upon contact with water, it has the ability to be elongated when it is subjected to an external force. To address this challenge, we employ the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) method to design a carboxyl-substituted polystyrene (CPS) which can form a covalently cross-linked network with four-armed amino-terminated polyethylene glycol (4-armed-PEG-NH₂), and a ductile polyacrylamide network is introduced in order to prepare a double-network (DN) hydrogel. Our results demonstrate that the DN hydrogel exhibits exception

SUBMITTER: Wang R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10551918 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature