Continuous liquid interface production of alginate/polyacrylamide hydrogels with supramolecular shape memory properties

Bingxue Huang; Rui Hu; Zhouhang Xue; Jiangqi Zhao; Qingye Li; Tian Xia; Wei Zhang; Canhui Lu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115736

Continuous liquid interface production of alginate/polyacrylamide hydrogels with supramolecular shape memory properties

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Mar 1:231:115736. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115736. Epub 2019 Dec 20.

Authors

Bingxue Huang¹, Rui Hu¹, Zhouhang Xue¹, Jiangqi Zhao¹, Qingye Li¹, Tian Xia¹, Wei Zhang², Canhui Lu³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute at Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute at Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China; Advanced Polymer Materials Research Center of Sichuan University, Shishi, 362700, China. Electronic address: weizhang@scu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute at Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China; Advanced Polymer Materials Research Center of Sichuan University, Shishi, 362700, China. Electronic address: canhuilu@scu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31888822
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115736

Abstract

A recently developed three-dimensional (3D) gel-printing technology, namely continuous liquid interface production (CLIP), was utilized to fabricate supramolecular shape memory hydrogels with high resolutions and complex 3D geometries. The UV-curable ink for CLIP was composed of hydrogel precursors (alginate and acrylamide) and a photo-initiator (ammonium persulfate). As expected, the double network formed from ionically crosslinked alginate and covalently crosslinked polyacrylamide endowed the printed hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties. Meanwhile, due to the reversible metal-ligand coordination interaction, the hydrogel could be temporarily immobilized into an optional shape after introducing calcium ions and return to its original shapes upon ion removal, exhibiting ion-triggered shape memory effect. Moreover, the presence of ions greatly improved the conductivity of the resultant hydrogels. Such 3D printed versatile hydrogels with complex geometries demonstrated the potential for selected applications, particularly in load-bearing materials and flexible electronic devices.

Keywords: Conductivity; Continuous liquid interface production; Hydrogel; Supramolecular shape memory; Toughness.