Ultra-stretchable Transparent Hydrogels with Low Hydrophobic and Amphiphilic Monomers Using Asymmetric Crosslinker to...

Exploring a reasonable network design to develop highly stretchable hydrogels with over 1,000% extension is still a big challenge in the field of hydrogel chemistry and materials. Micellar copolymerization with hydrophobic monomers and surfactants/proteins is a well-studied approach to provide stretchable hydrogels with hydrophobic association domains as sacrificial bonds when subjected to large deformation, but some limitations, such as dose increase of such monomers and surfactant-free synthesis have not yet been well considered. In this study, we demonstrate a simple but powerful approach to produce transparent, ultra-stretchable hydrogels expressing more than 3,000% elongation by surfactant-free copolymerization of low hydrophobic monomer and amphiphilic monomer. We believe that this result offers wider availability of low hydrophobic groups in various water-containing polymer materials, including gels, micelles, etc.