Figure 2.

Rheological characterization of 1 wt % polymer and 2 wt % polymer PNP hydrogel formulations with varying wt % NPs. Hydrogel formulations are denoted as P:NP, where P = wt % polymer and NP = wt % nanoparticles. Neat polymer solutions are denoted as 1:0 and 2:0 formulations. (a) Frequency-dependent oscillatory shear measurements indicate the hydrogel storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli increase with increasing wt % NPs. (b) Steady-shear measurements of all hydrogel formulations exhibit significant shear-thinning behavior that collapses to the shear viscosity values of the neat polymer solutions.