Proof of the Universality of Sacrificial Bond Principle and Creation of Tough Functional Hydrogels with Variety of Sacrificial Bonds

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24225006
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Polymer/Textile materials
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Gong Jian Ping 北海道大学, 先端生命科学研究院, 教授 (20250417)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 黒川 孝幸 北海道大学, 先端生命科学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (40451439) ; 中島 祐 北海道大学, 先端生命科学研究科(研究院), 助教 (80574350)
• Research Collaborator: NONOYAMA Takayuki 北海道大学, 大学院先端生命科学研究院, 特任助教 ; SUN Taolin 北海道大学, 大学院先端生命科学研究院, 特任助教
• Project Period (FY): 2012-05-31 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ゲル / 犠牲結合 / 高靱性 / 高強度 / 生体材料 / 階層構造 / 機能性 / 生体適合性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Gels have been anticipated as tissue-like functional materials, but generally they are mechanically too weak to be applied widely. On the other hand, recently our group
has proposed "sacrificial bond principle", where toughness of gels can be effectively improved by introducing weak and brittle bonds into soft and stretchable networks. In this project, we have created a series of extremely tough gels using this principle, e.g., variants of double network gels
featuring covalent sacrificial bonds, polyampholyte gels containing ionic sacrificial bonds, and phase-separated polyacrylamide gels exhibiting super toughness based on solvophobic sacrificial bonds. We have also succeeded in adding functions corresponding to chemical species of sacrificial bonds to the tough gels, e.g., self-healing properties to polyampholyte gels and bioactivity to double network gels containing biopolymers. Through these studies, we have confirmed generality and diversity of sacrificial bond principle.

Free Research Field

高分子科学