Mechanical Evaluation of Hydrogel–Elastomer Interfaces Generated through Thiol–Ene Coupling

Abstract

The formation of hybrid hydrogel–elastomer scaffolds is an attractive strategy for the formation of tissue engineering constructs and microfabricated platforms for advanced in vitro models. The emergence of thiol–ene coupling, in particular radical-based, for the engineering of cell-instructive hydrogels and the design of elastomers raises the possibility of mechanically integrating these structures without relying on the introduction of additional chemical moieties. However, the bonding of hydrogels (thiol–ene radical or more classic acrylate/methacrylate radical-based) to thiol–ene elastomers and alkene-functional elastomers has not been characterized in detail. In this study, we quantify the tensile mechanical properties of hybrid hydrogel samples formed of two elastomers bonded to a hydrogel material. We examine the impact of radical thiol–ene coupling on the crosslinking of both elastomers (silicone or polyesters) and hydrogels (based on thiol–ene crosslinking or diacrylate chemistry) and on the mechanics and failure behavior of the resulting hybrids. This study demonstrates the strong bonding of thiol–ene hydrogels to alkene-presenting elastomers with a range of chemistries, including silicones and polyesters. Overall, thiol–ene coupling appears as an attractive tool for the generation of strong, mechanically integrated, hybrid structures for a broad range of applications.

ZIF‐8 Composites for the Removal of Wastewater Pollutants

“…The lightweight ZIF-8@CPA composite aerogel was able to adsorb 231 and 201 mg.g À 1 of Cr 6 + and rhodamine B, respectively. [162] The synthesized ZIF-8/CF composite successfully absorbed rhodamine B (RhB). The visible UV test for RhB revealed a slower decrease in absorption even though the ZIF-8/CF composite had a negative surface charge (2.35 mV), which was explained by the enormous size of the Rhodamine B molecule.…”

“…Yin and colleagues produced ZIF‐8 layers on carbon‐based (CF) tissues modified with carboxyl groups (−COOH) via layer‐by‐layer building without the use of a solvent and an in situ methodology. The lightweight ZIF‐8@CPA composite aerogel was able to adsorb 231 and 201 mg.g −1 of Cr 6+ and rhodamine B, respectively [162] …”