No abstract

Using the double-network (DN) method, bacterial cellulose/polyacrylamide (BC/PAAm) DN gels able to sustain not only high elongation but also high compression have been synthesized by combining BC gel as the first network with PAAm as the second network in the presence of N,N 0 -methylene bisacrylamide (MBAA) as a cross-linker. This DN gel was obtained by modifying the monomer concentration of the second network, acrylamide monomer (AAm) and MBAA, and by controlling the water content of the first network, BC gel. The mechanical properties are discussed in term of the swelling degree (q), which is independent of the concentration of AAm and MBAA. It was found that, for BC/ PAAm DN gels with the first network formed from BC gel with high q (BC q=120 ), the tensile and compressive modulus (E) scales with q as E / q À2 .The tensile fracture stress, r F , of this DN gel was almost independent of q, that is r F / q 0 ; but the compressive fracture stress, r F , scaled with q as E / q À2 . Meanwhile, the tensile and compressive fracture strain (e F ) of the gel is almost independent of q, which is caused by AAm concentration change, but linearly increased with q, which is caused by MBAA concentration change. Furthermore, by decreasing the water content of the BC gel prior to polymerization of the second (PAAm) network, a ligament-like tough BC/PAAm DN gel could be obtained with tensile strength of 40 MPa.

Barnacle (Balanus amphitrite) settlement on synthetic hydrogels with various chemical structures was tested in laboratory assays. The results demonstrated that cyprids settle less or not at all on hydrogels and PDMS elastomer compared with the polystyrene control. The low settlement on gels is most likely due to the 'easy release' of initially attached cyprids from the gel surfaces. This low adhesion of cyprids is independent of surface hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity, and of surface charge. The results also revealed that hydrogels can be categorized into two groups. One group showed an extremely strong antifouling (AF) performance that was independent of the elasticity (E) or swelling degree (q) of the gels. The second group showed relatively less strong AF performance that was E- or q-dependent. In the latter case, E, rather than the q, may be the more important factor for cyprid settlement.