Azo-Crosslinked Double-Network Hydrogels Enabling Highly Efficient Mechanoradical Generation

'-methylenebis(acrylamide), the azoalkane crosslinker causes a decrease in the yield stress but significantly increases the mechanoradical concentration of DN gels after stretching. In the azoalkane-crosslinked DN gels, the concentration of mechanoradicals can reach a maximum of ∼220 μM, which is 5 times that of the traditional crosslinker. In addition, DN gels with the azoalkane crosslinker show a much higher energy efficiency for mechanoradical generation. Interestingly, DN gels crosslinked by a mixture of azoalkane crosslinker and traditional crosslinker also exhibit excellent radical generation performance. The increase in the mechanoradical concentration accelerates polymerization and can broaden the application range of force-responsive DN gels to biomedical devices and soft robots.