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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Construction of Modular Hydrogel Sheets for Micropatterned Macro-scaled 3D Cellular Architecture
Published on: January 11, 2016
Multifunctional Network-Shaped Hydrogel Assemblies
Qingyun Li1, Xinyi Quan1, Shaoyu Xu1
1Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P. R. China.
Abstract:
The previously reported hydrogel assemblies carry bulky shapes, for which the unitary assembly form immensely restricted further applications. Yet there are abundant natural examples of network-shaped assemblies constructed by animals, of which it is brought up inspirations for constructing hydrogel assemblies. Herein, the network-shaped assemblies with diverse functions are reported. The precursor solutions are prepared by acrylamide, 4-acryloylmorpholine, choline chloride, and photo-initiators. By means of three dimension (3D) printing, the hydrogel networks are formed driven by hydrogen bonds, and then the prepared jagged hydrogel blocks are assembled into network-shaped hydrogel assembly NSHA-0 by weaving method. Benefitting from the modifiability of hydrogels, hydrogel assemblies with different properties and functions are prepared by incorporating different functional monomers including ion pair acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, and sodium p-styrenesulfonate, N-isopropylacrylamide, spiropyran derivative and tetra-(4-pyridylphenyl)ethylene. The incorporation of these monomers bestowed the assemblies self-healing ability, thermo-responsiveness, ultraviolet-responsiveness as well as acid-responsiveness respectively.
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