Fabrication of Tough Hydrogels from Chemically Cross-Linked Multiple Neutral Networks

A simple method was developed to fabricate tough hydrogels from a chemically cross-linked neutral hydrogel. Loosely cross-linked pseudo- and true-interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels with double-, triple-, and quadruple-network structures were synthesized from acrylamide (AAm), and their mechanical properties were studied. Increasing the number of polymeric networks significantly changed the mechanical properties of pseudo-IPN...