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US 12,709,665 B2Granted
Hierarchically structured hydrogel with tunable mechanical properties
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsXimin He, Mutian Hua, Shuwang Wu
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Abstract
Many embodiments provide methods to produce hydrogels with water content of at least 70% with multi-length-scale hierarchical architecture. The hydrogels have high mechanical stress, high strain, and high toughness. The method includes a pre-concentrating step and a salting-out treatment. The produced hydrogels are anisotropic, comprising micro-sized honeycomb-like pore walls, which in turn comprise interconnected nanofibrils meshes.
Claims13
A method for fabricating hydrogel comprising:
- providing a solution with a solute in a solvent, wherein the solute is capable of aggregation or crystallization by forming hydrogen bonds or via hydrophobic interaction;
- concentrating the solution, wherein the concentrated solution forms a first structure with a dimension in micrometer size;
- and
- salting out the concentrated solution in a salt solution to form a hydrogel, wherein the salting out process forms a second structure on the first structure and the second structure has a dimension in nanometer size;
- wherein the hydrogel has a hierarchical structure.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.