A dual physical crosslinking starch-based hydrogel exhibiting high strength, fatigue resistance, excellent biocompatibility, and biodegradability
Mengshan Shang, Han Jiang, Jiaqi Li, Na Ji, Man Li, Lei Dai, Jian He, Yang Qin
Abstract
Simultaneous realization of high strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance in natural starch-based hydrogel materials is challenging. A facile method of in situ self-assembly and a freeze-thaw cycle was proposed to construct double-network nanocomposite hydrogels of debranched corn starch/polyvinyl alcohol (Gels). Rheology, chemical structure, microstructure, and mechanical property of Gels were investigated. Notably, short linear starch chains were self-assembled into nanoparticles and subsequently into 3D microaggregates, which were tightly wrapped by starch and PVA network. Compared with corn starch single-network and starch/PVA double-network hydrogels, the Gels reached up to a higher compressive strength (ca. 1095.7 kPa), and then achieved to ∼20-30-fold improvement in compressive strength. Recovery efficiency exceeded 85% after 20 successive compression loading-unloading cycle tests. Furthermore, the Gels had good biocompatibility to L929 cells. Hence, the high-performance starch hydrogels are thought to serve as a biodegradable and biocompatible material to replace synthetic hydrogels, which can broaden their application fields.