Figure 4.

(a) Schematic of hydrogel formation via direct epitaxial growth of PCL₅₀-b-PMMA₂₀-b-PDMA₂₀₀ cylinders in water. (b) TEM micrograph of PCL₅₀-b-PMMA₂₀-b-PDMA₂₀₀ hydrogel freeze-dried on a TEM grid. Scale bar = 1000 nm. (c) Cryo-SEM image of the cylinder hydrogel (scale bar = 2 μm) with photographs of the hydrogel using BODIPY-tagged (inset, left) and untagged cylinders (inset, right). (d) Step-strain measurements of cylinder hydrogel over three cycles (ω = 10 rad s^–1) with (e) enlargement of the recovery of the material properties after each cycle. (f) Strain-dependent oscillatory rheology of the cylinder hydrogel at 293 K and a constant frequency of 10 rad s^–1.