Highly mechanical properties nanocomposite hydrogels with biorenewable lignin nanoparticles

Biorenewable polymers from natural resources have attracted a greater attention of the research for different applications. In this work, renewable lignin nanoparticles (LNP) were employed as cross-linking junctions to prepare high mechanical properties hydrogel, polyacrylamide/lignin nanoparticle (PAM/LNP) nanocomposite hydrogel. The hydrogel exhibits high compressive and tensile strengths as well as excellent recoverability. The fracture strength of the PAM/LNP hydrogel under compressive stress is on the order of megapascals, which is several orders of magnitude higher than those of pure PAM hydrogel. The synergic improving effect of nanocomposite network structure and the strong H-bonding between polymer chains endow the hydrogel with an excellent mechanism of distributing the applied load. Considering good mechanical properties, simple synthesis methods and noncytotoxicity, this high performance hydrogel material has potential applications in biomedical fields, such as tissue engineering or regeneration, artificial muscles, strong underwater antifouling materials, and so on.