Abstract
Self-healing hydrogels have a great potential application in 3D printing, soft robotics, and tissue engineering. There have been a large number of successful strategies for developing hydrogels that exhibit rapid and autonomous recovery. However, developing a gel with an excellent self-healing performance within several seconds is still an enormous challenge. Here, an ultrafast self-healing hydrogel based on an agarose/PVA double network (DN) is presented. The gel utilizing a dynamic borate bond exhibits 100% cure in strength and elongation after healing for 10 s in air, and this hydrogel shows an excellent self-healing property underwater as well. In addition, the agarose/PVA DN hydrogel exhibits a smart self-healing property for an in situ priority recovery, ensuring that the shape and the function are the same as those of the original one. With the combination of self-healing properties, such a hydrogel could be applied to a board range of areas.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1258-1265 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Jan 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- double-network hydrogels
- dynamic borate bond
- smart self-healing
- ultra-fast
- underwater