A versatile hydrogel network–repairing strategy achieved by the covalent-like hydrogen bond interaction

Hydrogen bond engineering is widely exploited to impart stretchability, toughness, and self-healing capability to hydrogels. However, the enhancement effect of conventional hydrogen bonds is severely limited by their weak interaction strength. In nature, some organisms tolerate extreme conditions due to the strong hydrogen bond interactions induced by trehalose. Here, we report a trehalose network-repairing strategy achieved by the covalent-like hydrogen bonding interactions to improve the hydrogels' mechanical properties while simultaneously enabling them to tolerate extreme environmental conditions and retain synthetic simplicity, which proves to be useful for various kinds of hydrogels. The mechanical…