Supertough Lignin Hydrogels with Multienergy Dissipative Structures and Ultrahigh Antioxidative Activities

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c10657
• Publication Date: 2020-08-12T21:19:46Z
• Authors: Xiangyu You; Xuelian Wang; Hui Jie Zhang; Kunpeng Cui; Aokai Zhang; Linping Wang; Chandravati Yadav; Xinping Li
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Hydrogels derived from lignin are typically weak and contain only a small amount of lignin, which limits their broad application prospects. In the present work, novel lignin/poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) hydrogel with high content, superb toughness, ultrahigh antioxidative performance is constructed by employing facile dissolve-dry-swell solvent exchange method. Through this process, PDMA self-assembled into multienergy dissipative structure containing rigid lignin-rich domains. Precisely, chains both interpenetrated inside adhered on surface these domains through hydrophobic associations. This enables hydrogels to dissipate energy efficiently during fracture process. At an optimized content 58% (dry weight basis), prepared exhibited remarkable mechanical properties, such as elastic modulus (2.5 MPa), tensile strength super strain (11.3), extremely above 16 000 J m-2. addition, tough commendable antioxidant property nontoxicity. All advantageous properties provide lignin/PDMA potential for use in biomedical materials applications.