A facile strategy to construct biocompatible poly(vinyl alcohol)-based self-healing hydrogels

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Polymer hydrogels are crucial in biomedical applications but often lack self-repair capabilities.
• Developing autonomous self-healing materials is essential for enhanced reliability and longevity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a biocompatible, self-healing hydrogel with dynamic crosslinking for improved mechanical properties and autonomous repair.
• To investigate the structure-property relationships influenced by varying aldehyde content.

Main Methods:

• Grafting benzaldehyde groups onto poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to create aldehyde-functionalized PVA (APVA).
• Fabricating the hydrogel by crosslinking APVA with quaternized chitosan (HTCC) via reversible imine bonds and hydrogen bonds.
• Characterizing the hydrogel's mechanical properties, microstructure, and self-healing efficiency.

Main Results:

• The fabricated APVA/HTCC hydrogel exhibited a compact dynamic network due to increased imine bonds with higher aldehyde content.
• Mechanical strength and toughness were enhanced with increasing crosslinking density and decreasing pore size.
• The hydrogel achieved a high self-healing efficiency of 91.7% without external stimuli, with rapid microstructure reconstruction.

Conclusions:

• The developed PVA-based hydrogel demonstrates robust self-healing properties and good mechanical strength through dynamic imine bond crosslinking.
• The material shows significant potential for biomedical applications, including smart infill biomaterials and tissue engineering scaffolds.