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Highly Flexible, Tough, and Self‐Healable Hydrogels Enabled by Dual Cross‐Linking of Triblock Copolymer Micelles and Ionic Interactions
Author(s) -
Zhou Hongwei,
Zhang Min,
Cao Jiancheng,
Yan Bo,
Yang Wen,
Jin Xilang,
Ma Aijie,
Chen Weixing,
Ding Xiaobin,
Zhang Gai,
Luo Chunyan
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201600352
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , materials science , copolymer , micelle , ionic bonding , self healing , chemical engineering , acrylic acid , polymer chemistry , composite material , polymer , ion , aqueous solution , chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Development of artificial soft materials that have good mechanical performances and autonomous healing ability is a longstanding pursuit but remains challenging. This work reports a kind of highly flexible, tough, and self‐healable poly(acrylic acid)/Fe(III) (PAA/Fe(III)) hydrogels. The hydrogels are dually cross‐linked by triblock copolymer micelles and ionic interaction between Fe(III) and carboxyl groups. Due to the coexistence of these two cross‐linking points, the resulting PAA/Fe(III) hydrogels are tough and can be flexibly stretched, bent, knotted, and twisted. The hydrogels can withstand a deformation of 600% and an ultimate stress as high as 250 kPa. Moreover, the dynamic ionic interaction also endows the hydrogels self‐healing properties. By varying the ratio of Fe(III)/AA, a compromised healing efficiency of 73% and an ultimate stress of 200 kPa are obtained.