Strengthening poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogels using biochars and hydrophobic aggregations  

作　　者：Ping Zhang Ziyi Xu Zhiying Wu Ping Xu Canhui Yang 

机构地区：[1]Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Soft Mechanics&Smart Manufacturing,Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,P.R.China [2]Department of Chemistry,City University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong,P.R.China [3]Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,Peking University Shenzhen Hospital,Shenzhen,Guangdong,P.R.China

出　　处：《International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials》2022年第4期561-574,共14页国际智能和纳米材料杂志（英文）

基　　金：P.X.acknowledges the support from Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Foundation(No.20206238);The work at the Southern University of Science and Technology is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province[2214050008118];the Stable Support Plan Program of Shenzhen Natural Science Fund Grant[K21326303],and the Science,Technology,and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality[ZDSYS20210623092005017].

摘　　要：As the first version of synthetic hydrogel,poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)hydrogels have found broad applications.However,their poor mechanical performances have been longstanding hurdles for practical deployments.Herein,we report on strengthening the poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)hydro-gels with biochar nanoparticles and hydrophobic aggregations,which are induced by solvent exchange and reinforced by freeze-thaw.Both the vast anchoring points on the multifunc-tional surfaces of the biochar nanoparticles and the aggregates formed between poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)chains engender strong and dissipative physical crosslinks.The result-ing hydrogels exhibit marked mechanical properties,encom-passing high stretchability~7,high fracture toughness~1360 J m−2,high elastic modulus~180 kPa,low friction coefficient~0.2,self-recovery,and non-swellability.Furthermore,we demonstrate the versatility of the proposed strategy by using water/ionic liquid binary solvent as the sol-vent system,Laponite as the nano-reinforcement,and dryanneal as the hydrophobic aggregation enhancer to synthesize mechanically robust hydrogels.Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacry-late)hydrogels of superior mechanical properties are expected to enable previously inaccessible applications in biomedicine and engineering.

关 键 词：HYDROGEL PHEMA mechanical properties BIOCHAR hydrophobic aggregation 

分 类 号：TQ427.26[化学工程]