Tough Antibacterial Metallopolymer Double-Network Hydrogels via Dual Polymerization

We report the preparation of tough double-network (DN) metallopolymer antibacterial hydrogels through dual polymerization. DN hydrogels are composed of the first network of cationic cobaltocenium polyelectrolytes enabled using ring-opening metathesis polymerization and the second network of polymers prepared using radical polymerization. These DN hydrogels exhibited a very high compressive stress (up to similar to 120 MPa). The introduction of boronic acid and ionic conjugation with beta-lactam antibiotics endowed the hydrogels with high antimicrobial efficacy against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.