Enhanced toughness in highly entangled hydrogels <i>via</i> non-covalent molecular hooks.

ABSTRACT: Hydrogels with enhanced toughness have received increasing attention due to their potential for load-bearing applications. Recent findings have demonstrated that highly entangled networks are capable of forming such materials, yet their fabrication generally necessitates a covalent cross-linker, limiting their processability and applicability. In this work, we found that poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (PEGmeAc) can serve as a non-covalent cross-linker for highly entangled poly(acrylamide) networks in dilute state, imparting extreme stretchability (6600%) and toughness (26 MJ m^-3) to the hydrogels that otherwise flow within minutes. Oscillatory and rotational rheology demonstrates that the incorporation of 1 mol% of PEGmeAc is sufficient to provide structural stabili

SUBMITTER: Ansart E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12536487 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature