Double‐network polyvinyl alcohol composite hydrogel with self‐healing and low friction

Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel is considered the most promising candidate for artificial cartilage because of its good lubricity and low permeability. However, the efficacy of single-network PVA hydrogels under variable loads has not yet been determined. In this study, a one-step physical-cross-linking method was used to compose PVA/PEG double-network composite hydrogels. We changed the polyethylene glycol (PEG) content of the composite gel and tested the frictional-wear performance under different loads and speeds. With the mass fraction of PEG at 30 wt.%, the hardness of the PVA/PEG composite gel increased to 167.7% that of pure PVA. Under dry-friction conditions, the average coefficient of friction was approximately 0.14 and the wear rate on the surface of the hydrogel was insignificant. The cross-linking between PVA and PEG greatly enhanced the stability of the composite hydrogel polymer network. The structure of the composite gel was analyzed by a variety of standard methods. The hydrogel has excellent biocompatibility and self-healing ability and is a self-lubricating, self-healing candidate material for articular-cartilage repair.

Preparation and characterization of polyethylene glycol/chitosan composite water-based wound healing lubricant

“…C-C, C-O, and C-H were present in large quantities in both the PEG and CS monomers, whereas C-N was mainly present in CS. The element O was mainly present in the form of C-OH ( Figure 2C ) ( Xu et al, 2016 ; Ren et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). Thus, these results confirmed the presence of both PEG and CS in the fabricated lubricant.…”

“…Comparison of the curves reveals that the peak position moved forward after the addition of CS, and the other positions also changed to different degrees. This may be due to the formation of a large number of hydrogen bonds between CS and PEG, which reduced the fluidity of the composite (Zhang et al, 2021). Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology frontiersin.org…”

Biodegradable MoOx@MB incorporated hydrogel as light-activated dressing for rapid and safe bacteria eradication and wound healing

“…38 Compared with pure PVA hydrogel, the biocompatible PVA/PEG hybrid can form hydrogels with increased mechanical strength, high elasticity and lubrication for biomedical applications. [39][40][41] In this work, we designed a biocompatible MoO x @MBincorporated PVA/PEG nanocomposite hydrogel (MoO x @MBhy) with outstanding light-activated antibacterial activity. The MoO x @MB NPs were synthesized by a simple self-assembly strategy and then incorporated into the porous PVA/PEG hydrogel to achieve good dispersion (Scheme 1a).…”

“…38 Compared with pure PVA hydrogel, the biocompatible PVA/PEG hybrid can form hydrogels with increased mechanical strength, high elasticity and lubrication for biomedical applications. 39–41…”

Aqueous lubrication and wear properties of nonionic bottle-brush polymers

“…40,41 Continued loading can damage the surface, so any attempt to improve anti-wear will increase the lifetime of the surface. Therefore, various ways of preventing wear were proposed such as nanoparticle/ber-reinforcements, 42,43 double network, 44,45 and interpenetrating polymer hydrogels. 46,47 The abovementioned is a way to increase the mechanical strength by high crosslinking through the polymer composites.…”