Jingye Liang, Jishuai Xu, Jingxuan Zheng, Lijuan Zhou, Weiping Yang, Enzhao Liu, Yutian Zhu, Qiang Zhou, Yong Liu, Run Wang, Zunfeng Liu
Mechanically robust hydrogel fibers have demonstrated great potential in energy dissipation and shock-absorbing applications. However, developing such materials that are recyclable, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly remains an enormous challenge. Herein, inspired by spider silk, a continuous and scalable method is introduced for spinning a polyacrylamide hydrogel microfiber with a hierarchical sheath-core structure under ambient conditions. Applying pre-stretch and twist in the as-spun hydrogel microfibers results in a tensile strength of 525 MPa, a toughness of 385 MJ m-3 , and a damping capacity of 99%, which is attributed to the reinforcement of hydrogen-bond nanoclusters within the microfiber matrix...
April 15, 2024: Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)