Super Stretchable and Compressible Hydrogels Inspired by Hook-and-Loop Fasteners

Inspired by hook-and-loop fasteners, we designed a hydrogel network containing α-zirconium phosphate (ZrP) two-dimensional nanosheets with a high density of surface hydroxyl groups serving as nanopatches with numerous "hooks," while polymer chains with plentiful amine functional groups serve as "loops." Our multiscale molecular simulations confirm that both the high density of hydroxyl groups on nanosheets and the large number of amine functional groups on polymer chains are essential to achieve reversible interactions at the molecular scale, functioning as nano hook-and-loop fasteners to dissipate energy. As a result, the synthesized hydrogel possesses superior stretchability (>2100% strain), resilience to compression (>90% strain), and durability. Remarkably, the hydrogel can sustain >5000 cycles of compression with torsion in a solution mimicking synovial fluid, thus promising for potential biomedical applications such as artificial articular cartilage. This hook-and-loop model can be adopted and generalized to design a wide range of multifunctional materials with exceptional mechanical properties.