Intrinsic Anti-Freezing and Unique Phosphorescence of Glassy Hydrogels with Ultrahigh Stiffness and Toughness at Low Temperatures

© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.). - 1998. - 35(2023), 21 vom: 15. Mai, Seite e2300244
1. Verfasser: Hou, Li Xin (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Ju, Huaqiang, Hao, Xing Peng, Zhang, Haoke, Zhang, Lei, He, Zhiyuan, Wang, Jianjun, Zheng, Qiang, Wu, Zi Liang
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2023
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Schlagworte:Journal Article anti-freezing properties glassy state hydrogels hydrogen bonds toughness
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Most hydrogels become frozen at subzero temperatures, leading to degraded properties and limited applications. Cryoprotectants are massively employed to improve anti-freezing property of hydrogels; however, there are accompanied disadvantages, such as varied networks, reduced mechanical properties, and the risk of cryoprotectant leakage in aqueous conditions. Reported here is the glassy hydrogel having intrinsic anti-freezing capacity and excellent optical and mechanical properties at ultra-low temperatures. Supramolecular hydrogel of poly(acrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) with moderate water content (≈50 wt.%) and dense hydrogen-bond associations is in a glassy state at room temperature. Since hydrogen bonds become strengthened as the temperature decreases, this gel becomes stronger and stiffer, yet still ductile, with Young's modulus of 900 MPa, tensile strength of 30 MPa, and breaking strain of 35% at -45 °C. This gel retains high transparency even in liquid nitrogen. It also exhibits unique phosphorescence due to presence of carbonyl clusters, which is further enhanced at subzero temperatures. Further investigations elucidate that the intrinsic anti-freezing property is related to a fact that most water molecules are tightly bound and confined in the glassy matrix and become non-freezable. This correlation, as validated in several systems, provides a roadmap to develop intrinsic anti-freezing hydrogels for widespread applications at extreme conditions
Beschreibung:Date Completed 25.05.2023
Date Revised 25.05.2023
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE
ISSN:1521-4095
DOI:10.1002/adma.202300244