Facile fabrication of dual-crosslinked single network heterostructural polyurethane hydrogels with superior mechanical and fluorescent performance

Publication date: Available online 21 November 2019Source: Reactive and Functional PolymersAuthor(s): Jie Wen, Mingwang Pan, Jinfeng Yuan, Jiaxi Wang, Lei Zhu, Zhanyu Jia, Shaofeng SongAbstractMechanical properties (such as strength and toughness) of commonly synthetic polyurethane hydrogels (PUHs) cannot satisfy demands of practical load-bearing applications. Consequently, it is still a challenge to develop PUHs combined with excellent strength and toughness. Here, a new type of PUHs is synthesized through using polyethylene glycol, isophorone diisocyanate, trimethylolpropane (TMP) and polyphenol compound resveratrol (RST). Both TMP and RST as crosslinkers are linked to polyurethane main chains by a sequentially chemical crosslinking pre-polymerization, which results in the formation of a dual crosslinking network structure of PUHs, and the interconnected porous networks generated after freeze-drying PUHs are further studied by scanning electron microscope. Interestingly, the PU-RST hydrogels prepared by varying the weight ratio of RST versus TMP exhibit high mechanical properties and good load recoverability, in which the optimal tensile strength and breakage elongation of the equilibrium swollen hydrogels reach 1.87 MPa and 801%, respectively. This work offers a facile method for preparing dual-crosslinked PUHs with high mechanical strength and toughness, broadening application fields of the PUHs.Graphical abstract
Source: Reactive and Functional Polymers - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research