Degradable and Removable Tough Adhesive Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: The development of tough adhesive hydrogels has enabled unprecedented adhesion to wet and moving tissue surfaces throughout the body, but they are typically composed of nondegradable components. Here, a family of degradable tough adhesive hydrogels containing ≈90% water by incorporating covalently networked degradable crosslinkers and hydrolyzable ionically crosslinked main-chain polymers is developed. Mechanical toughness, adhesion, and degradation of these new formulations are tested in both accelerated in vitro conditions and up to 16 weeks in vivo. These degradable tough adhesives are engineered with equivalent mechanical and adhesive properties to nondegradable tough adhesives, capable of achieving stretches >20 times their initial length, fracture energies >6 kJ m^-2 , and 

SUBMITTER: Freedman BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8764582 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature