Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands

Zi Wang; Xujun Zheng; Tetsu Ouchi; Tatiana B. Kouznetsova; Haley K. Beech; Sarah Av-Ron; Takahiro Matsuda; Brandon H. Bowser; Shu Wang; Jeremiah A. Johnson; Julia A. Kalow; Bradley D. Olsen; Jian Ping Gong; Michael Rubinstein; Stephen L. Craig

doi:10.1126/science.abg2689

Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands

Zi Wang, Xujun Zheng, Tetsu Ouchi, Tatiana B. Kouznetsova, Haley K. Beech, Sarah Av-Ron, Takahiro Matsuda, Brandon H. Bowser, Shu Wang, Jeremiah A. Johnson^*, Julia A. Kalow^*, Bradley D. Olsen^*, Jian Ping Gong^*, Michael Rubinstein^*, Stephen L. Craig^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

187 Scopus citations

Abstract

The utility and lifetime of materials made from polymer networks, including hydrogels, depend on their capacity to stretch and resist tearing. In gels and elastomers, those mechanical properties are often limited by the covalent chemical structure of the polymer strands between cross-links, which is typically fixed during the material synthesis. We report polymer networks in which the constituent strands lengthen through force-coupled reactions that are triggered as the strands reach their nominal breaking point. In comparison with networks made from analogous control strands, reactive strand extensions of up to 40% lead to hydrogels that stretch 40 to 50% further and exhibit tear energies that are twice as large. The enhancements are synergistic with those provided by double-network architectures and complement other existing toughening strategies.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	193
Number of pages	1
Journal	Science
Volume	374
Issue number	6564
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg2689
State	Published - Oct 8 2021

Funding

We thank Y. J. Lin and P. Zhang for the assistance with density functional theor calculations and M Walters for the preparation of the experimental devices. This work was supported by the NSF Center for the Chemistry of Molecularly Optimized Networks (MONET), CHE-2116298, to J.A.J., J.A.K., B.D.O., M.R., and S.L.C. This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant (JP17H06144) to J.P.G.

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Wang, Z., Zheng, X., Ouchi, T., Kouznetsova, T. B., Beech, H. K., Av-Ron, S., Matsuda, T., Bowser, B. H., Wang, S., Johnson, J. A., Kalow, J. A., Olsen, B. D., Gong, J. P., Rubinstein, M., & Craig, S. L. (2021). Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands. Science, 374(6564), 193. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg2689

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title = "Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands",

abstract = "The utility and lifetime of materials made from polymer networks, including hydrogels, depend on their capacity to stretch and resist tearing. In gels and elastomers, those mechanical properties are often limited by the covalent chemical structure of the polymer strands between cross-links, which is typically fixed during the material synthesis. We report polymer networks in which the constituent strands lengthen through force-coupled reactions that are triggered as the strands reach their nominal breaking point. In comparison with networks made from analogous control strands, reactive strand extensions of up to 40% lead to hydrogels that stretch 40 to 50% further and exhibit tear energies that are twice as large. The enhancements are synergistic with those provided by double-network architectures and complement other existing toughening strategies.",

author = "Zi Wang and Xujun Zheng and Tetsu Ouchi and Kouznetsova, {Tatiana B.} and Beech, {Haley K.} and Sarah Av-Ron and Takahiro Matsuda and Bowser, {Brandon H.} and Shu Wang and Johnson, {Jeremiah A.} and Kalow, {Julia A.} and Olsen, {Bradley D.} and Gong, {Jian Ping} and Michael Rubinstein and Craig, {Stephen L.}",

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AU - Wang, Zi

AU - Zheng, Xujun

AU - Ouchi, Tetsu

AU - Kouznetsova, Tatiana B.

AU - Beech, Haley K.

AU - Av-Ron, Sarah

AU - Matsuda, Takahiro

AU - Bowser, Brandon H.

AU - Wang, Shu

AU - Johnson, Jeremiah A.

AU - Kalow, Julia A.

AU - Olsen, Bradley D.

AU - Gong, Jian Ping

AU - Rubinstein, Michael

AU - Craig, Stephen L.

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AB - The utility and lifetime of materials made from polymer networks, including hydrogels, depend on their capacity to stretch and resist tearing. In gels and elastomers, those mechanical properties are often limited by the covalent chemical structure of the polymer strands between cross-links, which is typically fixed during the material synthesis. We report polymer networks in which the constituent strands lengthen through force-coupled reactions that are triggered as the strands reach their nominal breaking point. In comparison with networks made from analogous control strands, reactive strand extensions of up to 40% lead to hydrogels that stretch 40 to 50% further and exhibit tear energies that are twice as large. The enhancements are synergistic with those provided by double-network architectures and complement other existing toughening strategies.

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Toughening hydrogels through force-triggered chemical reactions that lengthen polymer strands

Abstract

Funding

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