Hybrid Hydrogels Toughened by Chemical Covalent Bonding and Physical Electrostatic Interactions

Polystyrene nanoparticles with negative charges(n-PSs) were synthesized using styrene(St) and sodium styrene sulfonate(NaSS) as initial materials by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization. Subsequently, a hybrid hydrogel was prepared using acrylamide(AAm) and methacryloyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride(DMC) as co-monomers with N , N ′-methylenebisacrylamide(MBA) as a chemical crosslinker and n-PSs as a physical electro- static interaction agent. The resulting hybrid hydrogels exhibited excellent tensile strength and elongation at break. The tensile stress of hybrid hydrogels was seven times greater than that of hydrogels without n-PSs. The elongation at break of hydrogels reached 700%, which was much higher compared to those of the hydrogels without n-PSs. Furthermore, swelling measurements of the hydrogels indicate that there is an overshoot in the swelling process and the extent of overshoot decreases with the increasing n-PSs. Therefore, the work presented here provides a method for improving the mechanical properties of hydrogels via the introduction of polymeric nanoparticles.