Hydroxyethyl cellulose-based self-healing hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties via metal-ligand bond interactions

Abstract Self-healing hydrogels with robust mechanical properties is the primary objective of hydrogel materials. In this work, we report the synthesis of iron (III) containing hydroxyethyl cellulose based hydrogel (HEC/PAA-Fe3+) through dynamic metal-ligand (M-L) interactions with enhanced self-healing and mechanical properties. The decoration of ferric ions (Fe3+) in a physically cross-linked polymer network (HEC/PAA) introduces dynamic energy dissipative coordination bonds, which dramatically enhance the overall mechanical properties and self-healing efficiency. The mechanical properties and self-healing ability can be optimized by a variety of parameters such as HEC, Fe3+ ions, and AA monomer concentration. The HEC/PAA-Fe3+ hydrogel exhibits high tensile strength (1.35 MPa), extensive fracture strain (1660%), high toughness (8.8 MJ m−3) and outstanding self-healing efficiency (87%) without any external intervention. We predict that this forthright dynamic bond archetype fabrication can improve the self-healing efficiency of hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties.