Engineering Tough and Elastic Polyvinyl Alcohol-Based Hydrogel with Antimicrobial Properties.

ABSTRACT: Hydrogels have been extensively used for tissue engineering applications due to their versatility in structure and physical properties, which can mimic native tissues. Although significant progress has been made towards designing hydrogels for soft tissue repair, engineering hydrogels that resemble load-bearing tissues is still considered a great challenge due to their specific mechano-physical demands. Here, we report microporous, tough, yet highly compressible poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based hydrogels for potential applications in repairing or replacing different load-bearing tissues. The synergy of freeze-thawing and the Hofmeister effect, which controlled the spatial arrangement and aggregation of polymer chains, facilitated the formation of micro-structured frameworks with tunable por

SUBMITTER: Baidya A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11620288 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature