Properties and Structure of Hydrogel-Related Materials (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

It is now well recognized that the birth of synthetic hydrogels in 1960 by O. Wichterle and D. Lim marked the beginning of a new era in the science and technology of hydrogels. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymer networks swollen in water or other fluids, integrating solid (elastic) and liquid (viscous) properties. Especially in the past three decades, hydrogels have also been extensively explored and widely used in diverse interdisciplinary science and engineering applications such as fracture mechanics, mechanochemistry, wound dressings, scaffolds for tissue engineering, contact lenses, absorbents in waste management, coating, drug delivery, water treatment, sensors, flexible electronics, and soft robots. However, most conventional hydrogels composed of a single network (SN) usually suffer from mechanical weakness, greatly limiting their extensive uses for engineering applications requiring high mechanical properties. Over the last few decades, intensive efforts have led to synthesizing hydrogels that possess extreme mechanical properties, such as double-network (DN) gels, slide-ring (SR) gels, tetra-PEG gels, nanocomposite (NC) gels, hybrid gels, polyampholytes gels, phase-separated gels, and freeze-casting gels. DN gel is a landmark tough material with intrinsic tough mechanical properties due to its unique two contrasting network structures. The theory of sacrificial bond and energy dissipation adequately demonstrates the universality of the toughing gel and can be easily understood by a general audience. Although many aspects of the bridging relationship between the structure and properties of gel have been clarified so far, many phenomena and underlying mechanisms are still left unsolved. We believe it is time to revisit the mechanical properties and network of gels to mark a possible second beginning of a new era in the science of gels. We look forward to submitting new results on the properties and structure of gels. The submission of both theoretical and experimental studies is welcome.

Dr. Wei Cui
Guest Editor

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• gel and network
• tough gel
• gel rheology
• gel adhesion
• photonic crystal hydrogel sensor

• Properties and Structure of Hydrogel-Related Materials in Gels (6 articles)