Figure 2.

Structure characterization of the PDGI/PAAm hydrogels prepared with different co-surfactant to DGI molar ratio R for the four co-surfactants. (a) Swelling ratios in thickness, width, and length direction relative to the as-prepared state. (b) Photographs of the hydrogels placed on a black substrate (each square of the photos is 5 mm × 5 mm), with increasing R from left to right, together with reflectance intensity spectra of the hydrogels. (c) Table summarizing the structural properties of the hydrogels. Upper row: 1D swelling and iridescence properties; lower row: bilayer modulus in MPa estimated from Equation (1) (see Figure S5). The data of SDS at R = 1:4000 is from the literature.¹⁰