Phase-Separation-Induced Anomalous Stiffening, Toughening, and Self-Healing of Polyacrylamide Gels

Koshiro Sato; Tasuku Nakajima; Toshiyuki Hisamatsu; Takayuki Nonoyama; Takayuki Kurokawa; Jian Ping Gong

doi:10.1002/adma.201502967

Phase-Separation-Induced Anomalous Stiffening, Toughening, and Self-Healing of Polyacrylamide Gels

Adv Mater. 2015 Nov 18;27(43):6990-8. doi: 10.1002/adma.201502967. Epub 2015 Oct 1.

Authors

Koshiro Sato¹, Tasuku Nakajima², Toshiyuki Hisamatsu¹, Takayuki Nonoyama², Takayuki Kurokawa², Jian Ping Gong²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Soft and Wet Matter, Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan.
² Laboratory of Soft and Wet Matter, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan.

PMID: 26425825
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201502967

Abstract

Novel, tough, strong, and self-healable poly-acrylamide (PAAm) gels are fabricated by inducing an appropriate phase-separation structure using a poor solvent. The phase separation induces a gel-glass-like transition of the PAAm gels, providing the gels an anomalously high modulus (211 MPa), fracture stress (7.13 MPa), and fracture energy (4.16 × 10(4) J m(-2)), while keeping a high solvent content (≈60 vol%).

Keywords: phase separation; polymer gels; sacrificial bonds; self-healing; toughening.