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Tough Semi-interpenetrating Polyvinylpyrrolidone/Polyacrylamide Hydrogels Enabled by Bioinspired Hydrogen-bonding Induced Phase Separation

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Abstract

Semi-interpenetrating (semi-IPN) hydrogels formed by the continuous interpenetration of cross-linked polymer network and linear non-crosslinked polymer with multifunctionality are widely used in biomedical and other fields. However, the negative impact of linear polymer on the homogeneity of the cross-linked network often leads to a decrease in the mechanical properties of semi-IPN hydrogels and severely limits their applications. Herein, a bioinspired hydrogen-bonding induced phase separation strategy is presented to construct the tough semi-IPN polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyacrylamide hydrogels (named PVP/PAM hydrogels), including the linear polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and cross-linked polyacrylamide (PAM) network. The resultant PVPx/PAM hydrogels exhibit unique phase separation induced by the hydrogen bonding between PVP and PAM and affected by the amount of substance of PVP. Meanwhile, the phase separation of PVPx/PAM hydrogels results in excellent mechanical properties with a strain of 2590%, tensile strength of 0.28 MPa and toughness of 2.17 MJ/m3. More importantly, the hydrogen bonding between PVP and PAM firstly disrupts to dissipate energy under external forces, so the PVPx/PAM hydrogels exhibit good self-recovery properties and outperform chemically cross-linked PAM hydrogels in impact resistance and damping applications. It is believed that the PVPx/PAM hydrogels with hydrogen-bonding induced phase separation possess more potential application prospects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52273210).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Qiong-Jun Xu, Zhao-Yang Yuan, Chang-Cheng Wang, Hao Liang, Yu Shi, Hai-Tao Wu, Hu Xu, Jing Zheng & Jin-Rong Wu

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  1. Qiong-Jun Xu
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  2. Zhao-Yang Yuan
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Correspondence to Jing Zheng or Jin-Rong Wu.

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Tough Semi-interpenetrating Polyvinylpyrrolidone/Polyacrylamide Hydrogels Enabled by Bioinspired Hydrogen-bonding Induced Phase Separation

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Xu, QJ., Yuan, ZY., Wang, CC. et al. Tough Semi-interpenetrating Polyvinylpyrrolidone/Polyacrylamide Hydrogels Enabled by Bioinspired Hydrogen-bonding Induced Phase Separation. Chin J Polym Sci 42, 591–603 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-024-3066-z

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