Toughening Hydrogels with Fibrillar Connected Double Networks

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202402282
• Publication Date: 2024-04-05T09:34:00Z
• Authors: Yu‐Huang Fang; Chen Liang; Ville Liljeström; Zhong‐Peng Lv; Olli Ikkala; Hang Zhang
• Keywords: Toughening; Load bearing; Soft Robotics

Abstract Biological tissues, such as tendons or cartilage, possess high strength and toughness with very low plastic deformations. In contrast, current strategies to prepare tough hydrogels commonly utilize energy dissipation mechanisms based on physical bonds that lead irreversible large deformations, thus limiting their load‐bearing applications. This article reports a strategy toughen using fibrillar connected double networks (fc‐DN), which consist of two distinct but chemically interconnected polymer networks, is, polyacrylamide network an acrylated agarose fibril network. The fc‐DN design allows efficient stress transfer between the alignment during deformation, both contributing toughness, while chemical crosslinking ensures deformations after undergoing strains. mechanical properties can be readily tuned reach ultimate tensile 8 MPa above 55 MJ m −3 , is 3 3.5 times more than without connections, respectively. application potential hydrogel demonstrated damping material for jointed robotic lander. provides new toughening mechanism used soft robotics bioelectronic