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Highly Swellable and Stretchable Thermoresponsive Hydrogels Enabled by Functionalized Boron Nitride Nanosheets
Author(s) -
Guo Meiling,
Du Jin,
Zhang Junyao,
Wu Yuanpeng,
Xue Shishan,
Yang Xi,
Li Zhenyu,
Zhou Hongwei,
Lei Weiwei
Publication year - 2020
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.202000256
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , materials science , boron nitride , swelling , polymer , soft robotics , chemical engineering , covalent bond , nanotechnology , polymer chemistry , composite material , actuator , organic chemistry , computer science , chemistry , artificial intelligence , engineering
Thermoresponsive hydrogels with high stretchability and large swelling ratio are promising materials for fabricating soft devices, sensors, artificial muscles, etc. However, it remains a challenge to achieve these properties simultaneously within one hydrogel. Herein, highly swellable and stretchable thermoresponsive hydrogels are developed by incorporating functionalized boron nitride nanosheets (f‐BNNSs) into poly(maleic anhydride functionalized β‐cyclodextrin‐ co ‐ N ‐isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel. In such hydrogels, the dynamic host–guest interactions between f‐BNNSs and polymer matrix act as sacrificial bonds to efficiently dissipate energy, and the homogeneous covalent cross‐linking network of polymer leads to a smooth stress propagation, which enables the hydrogels to obtain excellent mechanical properties, such as remarkable strength (up to 0.15 MPa) and outstanding stretchability (up to 1457%). What is more, the resultant hydrogel also exhibits excellent thermoresponsive properties (swelling rate up to 5000% at 25 °C and deswelling rate down to 6% at 50 °C). Thus, this work offers a promising strategy to fabricate highly swellable and stretchable thermoresponsive hydrogels for potential soft actuators and bionic robotics applications.