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High‐Strength, Rapidly Self‐Recoverable, and Antifatigue Nano‐SiO 2 /Poly(Acrylamide–Lauryl Methacrylate) Composite Hydrogels
Author(s) -
Pan Shenxin,
Xia Meng,
Fang Zhengping,
Fu Jing,
Wu Yuting,
Sun Zhengguang,
Zhang Yuhong,
He Peixin
Publication year - 2019
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.201900130
Subject(s) - materials science , self healing hydrogels , toughness , methacrylate , composite number , composite material , acrylamide , compressive strength , polymer , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , polymerization , monomer , engineering
Creating load‐bearing hydrogels with superior mechanical strength and toughness is of vital importance for promoting the development of polymer hydrogels toward practical applications. Herein, a type of composite hydrogel is facilely fabricated employing simple and effective UV irradiation one‐pot method by introducing cheap and available nanosilica sol into hydrophobic association poly(acrylamide–lauryl methacrylate) (HAPAM gels). Composite hydrogels exhibit enhanced mechanical strength (compression stress reaching 4.4 MPa) and toughness (compression hysteresis energy achieved is 151.15 kJ m −3 ) compared to HAPAM gels. Composite hydrogels also demonstrate rapid self‐recovery behavior (95.91% stress recovery and 92.19% hysteresis energy recovery after restoration for 15 min, respectively) and favorable fatigue‐resistant ability without the help of external stimuli at room temperature based on the cyclic loading–unloading compression measurements. The simple and effective design strategy may help the development of hydrogel materials toward practical applications for soft sensors, tissue engineering, and actuators.