posted on 2021-06-15, 23:29authored byFuchuan Ding, Hao Ding, Zhiqiang Shen, Lei Qian, Jun Ouyang, Songshan Zeng, Thomas A. P. Seery, Jiao Li, Guanzheng Wu, Sonia E. Chavez, Andrew T. Smith, Lan Liu, Ying Li, Luyi Sun
Inspired
by hook-and-loop fasteners, we designed a hydrogel network
containing α-zirconium phosphate (ZrP) two-dimensional nanosheets
with a high density of surface hydroxyl groups serving as nanopatches
with numerous “hooks,” while polymer chains with plentiful
amine functional groups serve as “loops.” Our multiscale
molecular simulations confirm that both the high density of hydroxyl
groups on nanosheets and the large number of amine functional groups
on polymer chains are essential to achieve reversible interactions
at the molecular scale, functioning as nano hook-and-loop fasteners
to dissipate energy. As a result, the synthesized hydrogel possesses
superior stretchability (>2100% strain), resilience to compression
(>90% strain), and durability. Remarkably, the hydrogel can sustain
>5000 cycles of compression with torsion in a solution mimicking
synovial
fluid, thus promising for potential biomedical applications such as
artificial articular cartilage. This hook-and-loop model can be adopted
and generalized to design a wide range of multifunctional materials
with exceptional mechanical properties.