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Download fileSuper Tough, Ultrastretchable, and Thermoresponsive Hydrogels with Functionalized Triblock Copolymer Micelles as Macro-Cross-Linkers
journal contribution
posted on 2014-05-20, 00:00 authored by Yuan-na Sun, Guo-rong Gao, Gao-lai Du, Ya-jun Cheng, Jun FuVinyl-functionalized
thermosensitive Pluronic F127 micelles have
been used as multifunctional cross-links for the synthesis of super
tough, highly resilient and thermoresponsive nanomicelle (NM) hydrogels.
Pluronic F127 diacrylate (F127DA) with vinyl groups on both ends self-assembled
in aqueous solution into micelles. Such micelles served as multifunctional
macro-cross-links to copolymerize with acrylamide (AAm) monomers,
generating novel NM hydrogels with extraordinary tensile and compressive
properties, without using any chemical cross-linkers. Uniaxial tensile
tests demonstrated a fracture strain above 2265%, an ultimate stress
of 276 kPa, and a fracture energy of 2.34 MJ/m3. Under
compression tests, these hydrogels did not fracture up to 98% strain
and 62 MPa stress. Cyclic compressive loading–unloading tests
at 90% strain showed no decay of the hyseteresis energy, indicating
an unprecedented fatigue resistance.