Fig. 5: Demonstration of self-healing for assembled complex-shaped hydrogels and incorporation of new functionalities.
From: Stiff and self-healing hydrogels by polymer entanglements in co-planar nanoconfinement
a, Assembly of hydrogel ribbons into foldable lantern-like objects by self-healing. Scale bar, 1 cm. b, Kirigami-like assembly of hydrogel objects. Scale bar, 1 cm. c, Interlocked Möbius-ring-shaped hydrogels. The green area indicates the self-healed areas. Scale bar, 1 cm. d, Nanoconfined Hec-MX-PAAm hydrogel showing high stiffness and mechanical strength. The insets show the photographs of the Hec-MX-PAAm hydrogel and MX-PAAm hydrogel. Scale bar, 1 cm. e, Thermal camouflage of Hec-MX-PAAm hydrogel shown by the temperature measured by an IR camera. The insets show the IR images of the hydrogels at different temperatures. Scale bars, 1 mm. The values are presented as mean values ± standard deviations from five measurement points. The dashed lines are guides for the eyes. f, Enhanced EMI-shielding properties of the Hec-MX-PAAm hydrogel. SE, EMI-shielding effectiveness; SET, total shielding effectiveness; SEA, absorption component of shielding effectiveness. The hectorite, MXene and PAAm concentrations are 1.5 wt%, 1.5 wt% and 62 wt%, respectively.
