2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Creating tough and fatigue-resistant hydrogels with hierarchical structures
| Project/Area Number |
22K20521
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Review Section |
0501:Physical chemistry, functional solid state chemistry, organic chemistry, polymers, organic materials, biomolecular chemistry, and related fields
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
LI Xueyu 北海道大学, 先端生命科学研究院, 助教 (80961565)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Phase separation / fatigue resistance / fracture toughness / dynamic bonds / in-situ SAXS |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The applicant focuses on studying the influence of hierarchical structure and rheological response on toughening and fatigue resistance of self-healing hydrogels, which are composed of a hierarchical structure including ionic bonds, transient and permanent polymer networks, and bicontinuous hard/soft phase networks. By tuning the hierarchical structures and dynamic mechanical behavior using physical (changing salt concentrations and performing cyclic training) and chemical strategies (applying different monomers and varied crosslinker contents), it was revealed that the tensile and fracture behavior of the gels are mainly determined by the rheology response, while the delayed fatigue fracture is dominated by the phase-separated structure. Additionally, general principles for the design of next-generation tough and fatigue-resistant soft materials are proposed. The achievements have been published in Nature Reviews Materials, Sci. Adv., Macromolecules, and J. Mech. Phys. Solids.
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| Free Research Field |
polymer physics
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
This study reveals the relationship between the microscopic structures,rheological response and mechanical performance, and proposes general principles for the design of next-generation tough and fatigue-resistant soft materials.
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