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Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization

Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization

Crystallization is a phase transformation process in which crystals are precipitated from a supersaturated solution or formed from other sources. During crystallization, atoms or molecules arrange themselves into a well-defined, rigid crystal lattice to minimize energy.
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent...

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Easy Manipulation of Architectures in Protein-based Hydrogels for Cell Culture Applications

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Crystallization-Induced Network Growth for Enhancing Hydrogel Mechanical Properties.

Qianwei Liu¹, Xinhong Xiong^1,2, Yuanlai Fang³

¹Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.

Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)

|March 21, 2025

Summary

Inspired by muscle growth, cyclic crystallization drives hydrogel self-growth. This process enhances material strength by incorporating new polymers, enabling applications in adaptive implants and soft robots.

Keywords:

crystal hydrogel mechanoradical polymer network self‐growing materials self‐strengthening

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Fabricating Degradable Thermoresponsive Hydrogels on Multiple Length Scales via Reactive Extrusion, Microfluidics, Self-assembly, and Electrospinning

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Published on: April 16, 2018

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Polymer Chemistry
Biophysics

Background:

Skeletal muscle growth relies on actin-myosin interactions.
Hydrogels require methods for self-growth and property enhancement.
Existing methods for hydrogel modification are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel hydrogel self-growth mechanism inspired by biological systems.
To investigate the use of cyclic crystallization for hydrogel enhancement.
To engineer programmable topology in soft matter.

Main Methods:

Utilized polyacrylamide-sodium acetate (PAM-NaAc) hydrogel as a model system.
Induced cyclic crystallization to generate mechanoradicals.
Incorporated polymerizable compounds (monomers and crosslinkers) at fracture sites.

Main Results:

Achieved a 51.5-fold Young's modulus enhancement (0.024 to 1.24 MPa) over 50 crystallization cycles.
Demonstrated localized polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) at fracture sites.
Established a crystallization-induced self-growth mechanism.

Conclusions:

Cyclic crystallization effectively induces hydrogel self-growth and significantly enhances mechanical properties.
The developed method allows for programmable topology engineering in soft matter.
This approach has potential applications in adaptive biomedical implants and fatigue-resistant soft robots.