Solvent-aided phase separation in hydrogel towards significantly enhanced mechanoresponsive strength

• 作者: Haibao Lu Ziyu Xing Mingji Chen Kai Yu Yong Qing Fu
• 来源期刊: 力学学报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（5）
• 所属期刊栏目: THEMED PAPERS ON "MECHANICS OF SOFT MATERIALS AND FLEXIBLE STRUCTURES"
• 页码范围: 757-766
• 页数: 10页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Understanding working principles and thermodynamics behind phase separations,which have significant influences on condensed molecular structures and their performances,can inspire to design and fabricate anomalously and desirably mechanoresponsive hydrogels.However,a combination of techniques from physicochemistry and mechanics has yet been established for the phase separation in hydrogels.In this study,a thermodynamic model is firstly formulated to describe solvent-aided phase and microphase separations in the hydrogels,which present significantly improved mechanoresponsive strengths.Flory-Huggins theory and interfacial energy equation have further been applied to model the thermodynamics of concentration-dependent and temperature-dependent phase separations.An intricately detailed phase map has finally been formulated to explore the working principle.The thermodynamic methodology of phase separations,combined with the con-stitutive stress-strain relationships,has a great potential to explore the working mechanisms in mechanoresponsive hydrogels.