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Nanocomposite Polymer Hydrogels Reinforced by Carbon Dots and Hectorite Clay

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Abstract

Herein, two nanoparticles with different dimensions, spherical carbon dots (C-dots) and sheetlike hectorite clay, were used as physical crosslinkers to fabricate C-dots-clay-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanocomposite hydrogels (coded as C-dots-clay-PNIPAm hydrogels). The mechanical properties, fluorescence features and thermal-responsive properties of the C-dots-clay-PNIPAm hydrogels were evaluated. The experimental results indicate that synergistic effects of C-dots and hectorite clay nanoparticles are able to significantly enhance mechanical properties of the hydrogels. The hydrogels can be stretched up to 1730% with strength as high as 250 kPa when the C-dots concentration is 0.1wt% and the clay concentration is 6wt%. The hydrogels exhibit complete self-healing through autonomic reconstruction of crosslinked network a damaged interface. The hydrogels show favorable thermal-responsive properties with the volume phase transition around 34 °C. In addition, the hydrogels are endowed with fluorescence features that are associated with C-dots in the hydrogels. It can be expected that the as-fabricated C-dots-clay-PNIPAm hydrogels are promising for applications in sensors, biomedical carriers and tissue engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Shuai Ma  (马帅), Hang Zheng, Yanjun Chen  (陈艳军), Jincheng Zou, Chaocan Zhang & Yifeng Wang

Authors
  1. Shuai Ma  (马帅)
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  2. Hang Zheng
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  3. Yanjun Chen  (陈艳军)
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  4. Jincheng Zou
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  5. Chaocan Zhang
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  6. Yifeng Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanjun Chen  (陈艳军).

Additional information

Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51873167 and 50803048), and the 2018 National College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project Funding (No. 20181049701035)

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Ma, S., Zheng, H., Chen, Y. et al. Nanocomposite Polymer Hydrogels Reinforced by Carbon Dots and Hectorite Clay. J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit. 35, 287–292 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-020-2255-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-020-2255-z

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