Polydopamine particles reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel composites with fast self healing behavior

Self-healing is a very hot topic in hydrogel community since its close relationship with broad applications such as injectable hydrogels for cell delivery, bioinks for 3D printing, and drug delivery carriers. Considerable efforts have been devoted to fabricate hydrogels with superior self-healing ability and moderate mechanical property. But more of the reported self-healing hydrogels do not own fast self-healing behavior and high mechanical strength at the same time. Herein we report a tough hybrid hydrogel which can realize ultra-fast self-healing process. This hydrogel was prepared based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), borax and poly-dopamine particles (PDAPs). With the incorporation of PDAPs particles, the hybrid hydrogels exhibited higher mechanical strength and faster self-healing property than PVA-borax hydrid hydrogel only. Benefited from the rapid self-healing performance, enhanced mechanical properties, good biocompatibility and simple preparation method, this novel hybrid hydrogel is expected to have great potentials in widespread applications such as electrical skin, tissue engineering, drug delivery, 3D printing and soft robots.