Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction

Abstract The biocompatible autonomous self-healing hydrogels have great potential in biomedical applications. However, the fairly weak tensile strength of the hydrogels seriously hinders their application. Here, we introduced chitosan (CS) into the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-tannic acid (TA) hydrogel a...

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Main Authors: Xiaogang Yu, Jinxin Huang, Chengwei Wu, Wei Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85298-3
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author Xiaogang Yu
Jinxin Huang
Chengwei Wu
Wei Zhang
author_facet Xiaogang Yu
Jinxin Huang
Chengwei Wu
Wei Zhang
author_sort Xiaogang Yu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The biocompatible autonomous self-healing hydrogels have great potential in biomedical applications. However, the fairly weak tensile strength of the hydrogels seriously hinders their application. Here, we introduced chitosan (CS) into the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-tannic acid (TA) hydrogel and investigated the effects of the CS content, as CS can not only form reversible H bonds with PVA and TA but also form reversible electrostatic interactions with TA. Since the bond energy of electrostatic interaction is much stronger than that of the H bond, the tensile strength and self-healing properties of PVA-TA hydrogel can potentially be improved by adding the CS. The results suggested that when the PVA content and the total content of CS and TA were fixed (PVA: 30 wt.%; CS + TA: 3 wt.%) and the CS content was increased to 1 wt.%, the tensile strength of the PVA-CS/TA hydrogel could be up to 447 kPa, and the self-healing efficiency remained at 84% in 2 h. Compared with the reported self-healing hydrogels with similar biocompatibility and self-healing properties, whose tensile strength is usually less than 300 kPa, the PVA-CS/TA hydrogel prepared here shows a significant improvement in the tensile strength.
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spelling doaj-art-bce8de5e9ef844b0bb54dc89ba99a6d72025-01-19T12:19:21ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111610.1038/s41598-025-85298-3Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactionXiaogang Yu0Jinxin Huang1Chengwei Wu2Wei Zhang3Xinyu Key Laboratory of Materials Technology and Application for Intelligent Manufacturing, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinyu UniversityState Key Laboratory of Structure Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Structure Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Structure Analysis, Optimization and CAE Software for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of TechnologyAbstract The biocompatible autonomous self-healing hydrogels have great potential in biomedical applications. However, the fairly weak tensile strength of the hydrogels seriously hinders their application. Here, we introduced chitosan (CS) into the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-tannic acid (TA) hydrogel and investigated the effects of the CS content, as CS can not only form reversible H bonds with PVA and TA but also form reversible electrostatic interactions with TA. Since the bond energy of electrostatic interaction is much stronger than that of the H bond, the tensile strength and self-healing properties of PVA-TA hydrogel can potentially be improved by adding the CS. The results suggested that when the PVA content and the total content of CS and TA were fixed (PVA: 30 wt.%; CS + TA: 3 wt.%) and the CS content was increased to 1 wt.%, the tensile strength of the PVA-CS/TA hydrogel could be up to 447 kPa, and the self-healing efficiency remained at 84% in 2 h. Compared with the reported self-healing hydrogels with similar biocompatibility and self-healing properties, whose tensile strength is usually less than 300 kPa, the PVA-CS/TA hydrogel prepared here shows a significant improvement in the tensile strength.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85298-3Self-healing hydrogelMechanical strengthBiocompatibility
spellingShingle Xiaogang Yu
Jinxin Huang
Chengwei Wu
Wei Zhang
Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
Scientific Reports
Self-healing hydrogel
Mechanical strength
Biocompatibility
title Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
title_full Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
title_fullStr Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
title_full_unstemmed Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
title_short Biocompatible autonomous self-healing PVA-CS/TA hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
title_sort biocompatible autonomous self healing pva cs ta hydrogels based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction
topic Self-healing hydrogel
Mechanical strength
Biocompatibility
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-85298-3
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AT jinxinhuang biocompatibleautonomousselfhealingpvacstahydrogelsbasedonhydrogenbondingandelectrostaticinteraction
AT chengweiwu biocompatibleautonomousselfhealingpvacstahydrogelsbasedonhydrogenbondingandelectrostaticinteraction
AT weizhang biocompatibleautonomousselfhealingpvacstahydrogelsbasedonhydrogenbondingandelectrostaticinteraction