Sulfone-Bond-Toughened Multifunctional Hydrogels with Ion-Modulated Fluorescence and Mechanical Properties

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Supramolecular Chemistry

Background:

• Sulfone bonding is an emerging dipole-dipole interaction.
• Hydrogels often require toughening for advanced applications.
• Noncovalent interactions are key to designing advanced materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer tough hydrogels using sulfone bonding for the first time.
• To explore the cooperative effects of sulfone and hydrogen bonding in hydrogels.
• To investigate the potential of sulfone-bond-toughened hydrogels for information display.

Main Methods:

• Copolymerization of acrylamide with a sulfone-functionalized monomer.
• Characterization of hydrogel mechanical properties, thermoresponsiveness, and fluorescence.
• Investigation of ion-responsiveness and rewritable information display capabilities.

Main Results:

• Sulfone-bond-toughened hydrogels exhibit enhanced mechanical properties.
• Cooperative supramolecular interactions lead to tailorable properties.
• Hydrogels show ion-modulated fluorescence and thermal-responsive transitions.
• Demonstrated potential for rewritable information display applications.

Conclusions:

• Sulfone bonding is a viable strategy for toughening hydrogels.
• The developed hydrogels offer tunable properties and novel functionalities.
• This work opens new avenues for supramolecular network design using sulfone bonding.