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Anisotropic Ca-alginate Hydrogels with Superior Mechanical Properties and Excellent Stability for Underwater Applications

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Abstract

Many natural living tissues, such as ligaments, muscles, tendons, and corneas, have anisotropic structural features that afford superior mechanical performance and functionalities. The development of hydrogels with structures and mechanical properties similar to those of natural living tissues for practical applications is urgently needed. In this study, a series of anisotropic Ca-alginate hydrogels are systematically fabricated via a facile prestretching and drying method. The resulting hydrogels exhibit highly ordered structures, which endow them with extraordinary mechanical properties and high mechanical anisotropy. The gels with a water content of ~ 54–60 wt%, similar to that of natural tissues such as cartilage, skin, and ligament, have the highest Young’s modulus, tensile strength, work of extension, and fracture energy of 258.40 ± 21.19 MPa, 28.54 ± 1.18 MPa, 11.79 ± 1.65 MJ/m3, and 4323 ± 224 J/m2, respectively. The highest degrees of anisotropy, or the ratio of the mean property between the parallel and perpendicular directions to the clam** direction, of those properties of the hydrogels are 11.08, 4.49, 1.47, and 4.01, respectively. Moreover, they are highly stable in distilled, domestic, and river water. With these remarkable characteristics, the developed anisotropic Ca-alginate hydrogels are expected to have numerous applications.

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Acknowledgements

I acknowledge Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City 71307, Vietnam. They gave me permission to access the laboratory and research machines. Without their appreciated support, it would not be possible to conduct this research.

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  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City, 71307, Vietnam

    Van Tron Tran

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VTT: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing.

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Tran, V.T. Anisotropic Ca-alginate Hydrogels with Superior Mechanical Properties and Excellent Stability for Underwater Applications. J Polym Environ 32, 246–259 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-023-02974-z

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