Skip to main content
. 2020 Nov 27;6(48):eabb5367. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb5367

Fig. 2. Synthesis of the stretchable VSNP-PAM hydrogels with high toughness and low hysteresis.

Fig. 2

(A) Schematic representation of the synthetic procedure of VSNP-PAM hydrogels and their network-like structures. APS, ammonium persulfate. (B) Photographs of the as-synthesized VSNPs: Before (left) and after (right) the sol-gel process. Photo credit: Jie Shen and Yichen Cai, KAUST. (C) Initial (left) and elongated (right) states of the VSNP-PAM showcase the excellent stretchability (scale bars, 1 cm). Photo credit: Yichen Cai and Vincent Tung, KAUST. (D) Stress-strain curves for VSNP-PAM hydrogels with different VSNP contents. (E) Loading-unloading tensile curves of VSNP-PAM-x hydrogels at a strain of 1000%. Loading-unloading tensile curves of VSNP-PAM-0.1 at (F) different cycles and (G) different strains. (H) Toughness-hysteresis diagram benchmarks our work with current state-of-the-art hydrogels and elastomers. (I) A series of photographs show the compliant and viscoelastic nature of the VSNP-PAM hydrogels. Photo credit: Vincent Tung, KAUST.