Fabrication of cellulose nanocrystal reinforced nanocomposite hydrogel with self-healing properties

High strength and self-healing properties of hydrogels are of great interest in tissue engineering and biomedical fields. In this paper, nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared by freeze-thaw cycle method via fabricating physical cross-links into chemical-crosslinked formed polymer network. The properties of nanocomposite hydrogels were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, rheological analysis, swelling analysis and mechanical test. The results showed that the electrostatic interaction between CNC and QAX and the high amount of PVA (20 wt%) were favorable to improve the mechanical properties of nanocomposite hydrogels, in which the maximum compressive strength and elongation at break of nanocomposite hydrogels were 1.56 MPa and 771 %, respectively. Prepared hydrogels achieved self-healing without any external stimuli at room temperature with the help of hydrogen bonds and the entanglement of long polymer chains, the healing efficiency was 37.03 % within 48 h. These hydrogels with high strength and self-healing properties will offer new insights for xylan application.