Predictably Engineering the Viscoelastic Behavior of Dynamic Hydrogels via Correlation with Molecular Parameters

Rational design of dynamic hydrogels with desirable viscoelastic behaviors relies on an in-depth understanding of the principles correlating molecular parameters and macroscopic properties. To quantitatively elucidate such principles, a series of dynamic covalent hydrogels crosslinked via hydrazone bonds is designed. The exchange rate of the hydrazone bond is tuned by varying the concentration of an organic catalyst, while maintaining the crosslinking density unchanged. This strategy of independently tuning exchange dynamics of crosslinks and crosslinking density allows unambiguous analysis of the viscoelastic response of the dynamic hydrogels as a function of their network parameters. It is found that the terminal relaxation time of the dynamic hydrogels is primarily determined by two factors: the exchange rate of crosslinks and the number of effective crosslinks per polymer chain, and is independent of the network architecture. Furthermore, a universal correlation is identified between the terminal relaxation time determined from stress relaxation and the exchange rate determined via reaction kinetics, which can be generalized to any viscoelastic hydrogel network, in principle. This quantitative correlation facilitates the development of dynamic hydrogels with a variable desired viscoelastic response based on molecular design.