Influence of Network Topology on the Viscoelastic Properties of Dynamically Crosslinked Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Biological materials combine stress relaxation and self-healing with non-linear stress-strain responses. These characteristic features are a direct result of hierarchical self-assembly, which often results in fiber-like architectures. Even though structural knowledge is rapidly increasing, it has remained a challenge to establish relationships between microscopic and macroscopic structure and function. Here, we focus on understanding how network topology determines the viscoelastic properties, i.e., stress relaxation, of biomimetic hydrogels. We have dynamically crosslinked two different synthetic polymers with one and the same crosslink. The first polymer, a polyisocyanopeptide (PIC), self-assembles into semi-flexible, fiber-like bundles, and thus displays stress-stiffening, similar to ma

SUBMITTER: Grad EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7349520 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature