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Fatigue-resistant adhesion of hydrogels

Author

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  • Ji Liu

    (Southern University of Science and Technology
    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Shaoting Lin

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Xinyue Liu

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Zhao Qin

    (Syracuse University
    Syracuse University)

  • Yueying Yang

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Jianfeng Zang

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Xuanhe Zhao

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

The adhesion of soft connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, and cartilages) on bones in many animals can maintain high toughness (∽800 J m−2) over millions of cycles of mechanical loads. Such fatigue-resistant adhesion has not been achieved between synthetic hydrogels and engineering materials, but is highly desirable for diverse applications such as artificial cartilages and tendons, robust antifouling coatings, and hydrogel robots. Inspired by the nanostructured interfaces between tendons/ligaments/cartilages and bones, we report that bonding ordered nanocrystalline domains of synthetic hydrogels on engineering materials can give a fatigue-resistant adhesion with an interfacial fatigue threshold of 800 J m−2, because the fatigue-crack propagation at the interface requires a higher energy to fracture the ordered nanostructures than amorphous polymer chains. Our method enables fatigue-resistant hydrogel coatings on diverse engineering materials with complex geometries. We further demonstrate that the fatigue-resistant hydrogel coatings exhibit low friction and low wear against natural cartilages.

Suggested Citation

  • Ji Liu & Shaoting Lin & Xinyue Liu & Zhao Qin & Yueying Yang & Jianfeng Zang & Xuanhe Zhao, 2020. "Fatigue-resistant adhesion of hydrogels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14871-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14871-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Bin Xue & Jie Gu & Lan Li & Wenting Yu & Sheng Yin & Meng Qin & Qing Jiang & Wei Wang & Yi Cao, 2021. "Hydrogel tapes for fault-tolerant strong wet adhesion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Zengqi Huang & Lin Li & Tingqing Wu & Tangyue Xue & Wei Sun & Qi Pan & Huadong Wang & Hongfei Xie & Jimei Chi & Teng Han & Xiaotian Hu & Meng Su & Yiwang Chen & Yanlin Song, 2023. "Wearable perovskite solar cells by aligned liquid crystal elastomers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Shuihong Zhu & Sen Wang & Yifan Huang & Qiyun Tang & Tianqi Fu & Riyan Su & Chaoyu Fan & Shuang Xia & Pooi See Lee & Youhui Lin, 2024. "Bioinspired structural hydrogels with highly ordered hierarchical orientations by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Kexin Guo & Xuehan Yang & Chao Zhou & Chuang Li, 2024. "Self-regulated reversal deformation and locomotion of structurally homogenous hydrogels subjected to constant light illumination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Quanqian Lyu & Miaomiao Li & Lianbin Zhang & Jintao Zhu, 2024. "Structurally-colored adhesives for sensitive, high-resolution, and non-invasive adhesion self-monitoring," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

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