3D Interlayer Slidable Multilayer Nano-Graphene Oxide Acrylate Crosslinked Tough Hydrogel

The design of three-dimensional crosslinked units with a spatial structure is of great significance for improving the mechanical properties of hydrogels. However, almost all the nanocomposites incorporated in hydrogels were defined as rigid nanofillers without further discussion on the potential contribution from the spatial structure change. In this work, the 3D nano chemical crosslinker multilayer graphene oxide acrylate (mGOa) was developed as a pressure-responsive crosslinker to achieve both low elastic modulus and high compression stress by synergizing more polymer chains against the loading force through interlayer sliding. Results showed that the hydrogel crosslinked by only 2 mg/mL mGOa nano chemical crosslinker in the poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-acrylamide) hydrogel (molar ratio: 1:1) can effectively enhance the mechanical strength up to 14.1 ± 2.1 MPa at a high compressive strain (90.6%) with an elastic modulus of less than 0.03 MPa at the initial 5% compression, whereas the hydrogel crosslinked by methacrylated single-layer graphene oxide (sGOa) or a small-molecule chemical crosslinker, N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide, can only reach 2.3 ± 0.8 MPa and 1.4 ± 0.4 MPa, respectively. In addition, the instantaneous modulus of the mGOa crosslinked hydrogel rapidly increased to the peak value with the increase of strain. The repeated compression test of HcA-mGOa hydrogels showed the responsive increase of the modulus, which was promoted by the synergism of polymer chains under compression. This indicated that the interlayer sliding of mGOa is the key contributor to mechanical strength enhancement, which provides a new rationale to design tough hydrogels.