A Facile Strategy for Preparing Tough, Self‐Healing Double‐Network Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels Inspired by Mussel Cuticles. Issue 4 (8th February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guo, Zhongwei; Mi, Shengli; Sun, Wei
• Is Part Of: Macromolecular materials and engineering. Volume 304:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2019-02-08
• Subjects: double‐networks -- hyaluronic acid -- hydrogels -- mussel cuticles -- self‐healing; Plastics -- Periodicals; Polymers -- Periodicals; Polymerization -- Periodicals; 547.705
• DOI: 10.1002/mame.201800715
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1438-7492

Abstract

Abstract: Compared with hydrogel‐like biological tissues such as cartilage, muscles, and blood vessels, current hyaluronic acid hydrogels often suffer from poor toughness and limited self‐healing properties. Herein, a facile and generalizable strategy inspired by mussel cuticles is presented to fabricate tough and self‐healing double‐network hyaluronic acid hydrogels. These hydrogels are composed of ductile, reversible Fe 3+ ‐catechol interaction primary networks, and secondarily formed brittle, irreversible covalent networks. Based on this design strategy, the hyaluronic acid hydrogels are demonstrated to exhibit reinforced mechanical strength while maintaining a rapid self‐healing property. In addition, by simply regulating pH or UV irradiation time, the mechanical properties of the hydrogels can be regulated conveniently through variations between the primary and secondary networks. Abstract : A facile and generalizable strategy inspired by mussel cuticles is presented to fabricate tough, self‐healing double‐network hyaluronic acid hydrogels with tunable properties.