Fig. 1: Schematic of dialysis-casting the hydrogels.
From: Tunable network architecture in a hydrogel with extreme vibration damping properties
a Sodium alginate polymer (blue lines) was mixed with monomeric poloxamer 407 (red–orange lines) in water at room temperature and added to a dialysis tubing membrane (light blue) containing a plastic mold (dark grey), and then the dialysis tubing membrane was clipped shut (dark blue). b The membrane was submerged in water at 37 °C to induce a sol–gel transition of the poloxamer, forming a microphase (red–orange shapes). c Calcium chloride was added to the water exterior to the dialysis membrane tubing to cross-link the alginate with Ca2+ ions (green circles). The solution was gradually cooled to 20 °C to reverse the sol–gel transition of the poloxamer, so the poloxamer could diffuse out of the membrane as Ca2+ diffused in. d Finally, after the alginate was fully cross-linked inside the dialysis membrane, excess hydrogel was cut away from the mould and samples of the desired dimensions were removed.
