Heat-recoverable hydrogels with chromonic liquid crystals as secondary cross-linkers

Abstract

Chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) are a class of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) mostly found in drugs, dyes, and nucleic acids and so forth. In this study, we prepared an ionic hydrogel from cationic monomer and then incorporated chromonic aggregates as secondary cross-linkers by the ionic bonds between the plus charge of the polymer and the minus charge of chromonic aggregates. We have found that there is a dramatic enhancement in mechanical properties. The gels also have heat-recoverable characteristic after immersing in chromonic aggregates solution. The study offers a new design for tough and heat-recoverable hydrogels using chromonic aggregates.