Elaboration and rheological characterization of nanocomposite hydrogels containing C₆₀ fullerene nanoplatelets

Nanocomposite hydrogels were elaborated that consisted of a physical network formed by an amphiphilic polymer in which C₆₀ fullerene nanoplatelets were embedded. Characterization showed that the nanoplatelets within the polymer network were aggregated. The presence of these nanoplatelets led to an increase of the shear modulus of the hydrogels, that cannot be explained by a filler effect alone. The nanocomposite gels displayed similar rheological behavior, both in linear and non-linear domains, as neat hydrogels at higher polymer concentrations. We suggest that the particles reinforced the gels by forming additional connections between the polymer chains.