Ben McDonald Publishes Review Paper on Tough Hydrogels
Meteorically rising scholar Ben McDonald has just finished what he describes as “the herculean task of preparing a comprehensive review on how intermolecular interactions in time (and their modulation by environmental stimuli in time) enables the programming of the assembly, structure, and properties of hydrogels (water swollen polymer networks like most tissue). The broad, multidisciplinary scope of hydrogels means lots of folks with different perspectives work on them (biomedical engineers, material scientists, chemists, etc.).
Some folks think about their assembly to make tissue surrogates or drug delivery vehicles, while others think about their structural organization (in space) to maximize mechanical properties, and a whole nother crowd add stimuli-responsive widgets to them to make them “smart”. Our review is meant to find a common meeting ground for all those folks to understand how the molecular to multiscale structure-property relationships shape the properties that they care about.”
Below is the abstract:
The multidisciplinary applications of hydrogels have motivated a thorough exploration of the relationship between their structural and mechanical properties, i.e., spatial structure–function relationships, with particular regard to strength and toughness. While this approach has driven fundamental advancements in the design of robust hydrogel structures, further complementary perspectives are needed to enable holistic, rational design schemes that integrate considerations such as fabrication and advanced functions like response and adaptation. To these ends, this review focuses on the dynamics of temporal-function relationships and their fundamental bases in order to highlight how the dynamic regulation of polymer interactions programs: 1) polymer assembly and material structure; 2) response to deformation and fracture behavior; 3) dynamic modulation of properties and structural remodeling/self-healing. By exploring this intersection of hydrogel formation, function, and remodeling, this review seeks to shed light on the fundamental relationship between molecular structure, material assembly, and performance in order to connect the emerging area of bioinspired materials processing with tough hydrogel design, and further provides a lasting inspiration and impetus for future hydrogel development that enables valuable scientific and technological advancements.
Congratulations, Ben!
