Topoarchitected polymer networks expand the space of material properties

Xiao Liu, Jingping Wu, Keke Qiao, Guohan Liu, Zhengjin Wang, Tongqing Lu, Zhigang Suo () and Jian Hu ()
Additional contact information
Xiao Liu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Jingping Wu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Keke Qiao: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Guohan Liu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Zhengjin Wang: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Tongqing Lu: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Zhigang Suo: Harvard University
Jian Hu: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Many living tissues achieve functions through architected constituents with strong adhesion. An Achilles tendon, for example, transmits force, elastically and repeatedly, from a muscle to a bone through staggered alignment of stiff collagen fibrils in a soft proteoglycan matrix. The collagen fibrils align orderly and adhere to the proteoglycan strongly. However, synthesizing architected materials with strong adhesion has been challenging. Here we fabricate architected polymer networks by sequential polymerization and photolithography, and attain adherent interface by topological entanglement. We fabricate tendon-inspired hydrogels by embedding hard blocks in topological entanglement with a soft matrix. The staggered architecture and strong adhesion enable high elastic limit strain and high toughness simultaneously. This combination of attributes is commonly desired in applications, but rarely achieved in synthetic materials. We further demonstrate architected polymer networks of various geometric patterns and material combinations to show the potential for expanding the space of material properties.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29245-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-29245-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29245-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().