In situ mechanical reinforcement of polymer hydrogels via metal-coordinated crosslink mineralization.

ABSTRACT: Biological organic-inorganic materials remain a popular source of inspiration for bioinspired materials design and engineering. Inspired by the self-assembling metal-reinforced mussel holdfast threads, we tested if metal-coordinate polymer networks can be utilized as simple composite scaffolds for direct in situ crosslink mineralization. Starting with aqueous solutions of polymers end-functionalized with metal-coordinating ligands of catechol or histidine, here we show that inter-molecular metal-ion coordination complexes can serve as mineral nucleation sites, whereby significant mechanical reinforcement is achieved upon nanoscale particle growth directly at the metal-coordinate network crosslink sites.

SUBMITTER: Kim S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7844223 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature