Stretchable, tough, self-recoverable, and cytocompatible chitosan/cellulose nanocrystals/polyacrylamide hybrid hydrogels

As medical practitioners' interest in hydrogels continues to grow, their new expectations in terms of mechanical properties, biocompatibility and durability are changed. Here, we demonstrated a new strategy to improve both mechanical properties and self-recovery of double network (DN) hydrogels by introducing a self-healing network, consisting of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) and dialdehyde cellulose nanocrystals (DACNC). Notably, the hydrogel could be repeatedly stretched to 4 times its initial length and has tensile strength of 244 kPa, and completely recovered its shape when compressed by 90% and had the compressive strength up to 8 MPa. In addition, the deformed hydrogel recovered 81.3% of its dissipated energy at room temperature without any external stimuli. The hydrogel also exhibited good biocompatibility. We have developed a new method to fabricate stretchable and tough hydrogels that could spontaneously self-repair following mechanical deformation. They are promising for controlled drug release and dye adsorption.