Impact‐Resistant Hydrogels by Harnessing 2D Hierarchical Structures

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202207587
• Publication Date: 2022-10-26T05:31:50Z
• Authors: Xiangyu Liang; Guangda Chen; Iek Man Lei; Pei Zhang; Zeyu Wang; Xingmei Chen; Mengze Lu; Jiajun Zhang; Zongbao Wang; Taolin Sun; Yang Lan; Ji Liu
• Keywords: Nanocrystalline material

With the strengthening capacity through harnessing multi-length-scale structural hierarchy, synthetic hydrogels hold tremendous promise as a low-cost and abundant material for applications demanding unprecedented mechanical robustness. However, integrating high impact resistance water content, yet superior softness, in single hydrogel still remains grand challenge. Here, simple, effective, strategy involving bidirectional freeze-casting compression-annealing is reported, leading to hierarchically structured material. Rational engineering of distinct 2D lamellar structures, well-defined nanocrystalline domains robust interfacial interaction among lamellae, synergistically contributes record-high ballistic energy absorption capability (i.e., 2.1 kJ m-1 ), without sacrificing their content 85 wt%) softness. Together with its extraordinary dissipation capacity, materials present durable alternative conventional armor-like protection circumstances.