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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Fragmenting Bulk Hydrogels and Processing into Granular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Fragmenting Bulk Hydrogels and Processing into Granular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Published on: May 17, 2022

Highly stretchable and tough hydrogels.

Jeong-Yun Sun¹, Xuanhe Zhao, Widusha R K Illeperuma

¹School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.

|September 8, 2012

Summary

Researchers developed tough, stretchable hydrogels using dual crosslinking. These water-rich materials mimic natural tissues, offering potential for advanced applications in medicine and engineering.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Polymer Chemistry
Biomaterials Engineering

Background:

Hydrogels are widely used in tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Current hydrogels have limited mechanical properties, such as low stretchability and fracture energy.
Improving hydrogel mechanics is crucial for expanding their applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To synthesize novel hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties, specifically high stretchability and toughness.
To investigate the mechanisms behind the improved mechanical performance of these hydrogels.

Main Methods:

Synthesis of hydrogels utilizing polymers that form both ionic and covalent crosslinked networks.
Mechanical testing of the synthesized hydrogels, including stretchability and fracture energy measurements.
Analysis of deformation and energy dissipation mechanisms through material characterization.

Main Results:

The synthesized hydrogels, containing approximately 90% water, exhibit stretchability beyond 20 times their initial length.
Fracture energies reached approximately 9,000 J m⁻², comparable to natural tissues.
Notched samples demonstrated a stretch of 17, highlighting significant toughness.
The toughness is attributed to crack bridging by covalent crosslinks and hysteresis from unzipping ionic crosslinks.

Conclusions:

The novel hydrogels possess exceptional mechanical properties, overcoming limitations of conventional hydrogels.
The dual crosslinking mechanism provides a synergistic approach to achieving high toughness and stretchability.
These advanced hydrogels hold promise for diverse applications, including tissue engineering and soft robotics, and serve as models for studying deformation and energy dissipation.