Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Localized Ionic Reinforcement of Double Network Granular Hydrogels
 
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
research article

Localized Ionic Reinforcement of Double Network Granular Hydrogels

Thoma, Alexandra  
•
Amstad, Esther  
May 15, 2024
Small

Nature produces soft materials with fascinating combinations of mechanical properties. For example, the mussel byssus embodies a combination of stiffness and toughness, a feature that is unmatched by synthetic hydrogels. Key to enabling these excellent mechanical properties are the well-defined structures of natural materials and their compositions controlled on lengths scales down to tens of nanometers. The composition of synthetic materials can be controlled on a micrometer length scale if processed into densely packed microgels. However, these microgels are typically soft. Microgels can be stiffened by enhancing interactions between particles, for example through the formation of covalent bonds between their surfaces or a second interpenetrating hydrogel network. Nonetheless, changes in the composition of these synthetic materials occur on a micrometer length scale. Here, 3D printable load-bearing granular hydrogels are introduced whose composition changes on the tens of nanometer length scale. The hydrogels are composed of jammed microgels encompassing tens of nm-sized ionically reinforced domains that increase the stiffness of double network granular hydrogels up to 18-fold. The printability of the ink and the local reinforcement of the resulting granular hydrogels are leveraged to 3D print a butterfly with composition and structural changes on a tens of nanometer length scale.|3D printable double network granular hydrogels allow compositional and structural changes on a micrometer length scale. Here, phase separation is exploited to produce microgels whose composition abruptly changes on the tens of nm length scale. These microgels are processed into microstructured double network granular hydrogels that can be ionically reinforced to increase their stiffness up to 18-fold. image

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/smll.202311092
Web of Science ID

WOS:001222422600001

Author(s)
Thoma, Alexandra  
•
Amstad, Esther  
Date Issued

2024-05-15

Publisher

Wiley-V C H Verlag Gmbh

Published in
Small
Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Technology

•

Diffusion

•

Hydrogels

•

Ionic Reinforcement

•

Microstructure

•

Porosity

Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SMAL  
FunderGrant Number

SNSF Sinergia project

216558

Available on Infoscience
June 5, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/208354
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés