Fig. 2: Effect of clay nanoplatelet/nanosheet AR and polymer concentration.
From: Stiff and self-healing hydrogels by polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement
a, Comparison of hydrogels prepared with nanoplatelets/nanosheets with varying ARs. Only high-AR hectorite nanosheets lead to substantially enhanced stiffness and strength. b, Dependence of elastic moduli on the AR of nanoplatelets or nanosheets. The moduli are presented as mean values ± standard deviations from five samples. c, Critical role of polymer concentration to promote nanoconfined entanglement for enhanced stiffness and strength. d, SAXS data in the x–y plane and x–z plane proving the in-plane alignment of nanosheets in the nanocomposite hydrogel. e, High anisotropy by shear-induced alignment in nanoconfined hydrogels for different hectorite concentrations. f, Weaker alignment due to decreasing AR evidenced from the SAXS data of hydrogels containing different nanoclays. Unless otherwise stated, all hydrogels contained 1.5 wt% nanoplatelets/nanosheets and 62 wt% PAAm.
