Tough, Transparent, and Slippery PVA Hydrogel Led by Syneresis

Abstract Slippery and transparent polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels with mechanical robustness exhibit broad applications in artificial biological soft tissues, flexible wearable electronics, and implantable biomedical devices. Most of the current PVA hydrogels, however, are unable to integrate these features, which compromises its performance in biological and engineering applications. To achieve such purpose, herein, a novel tactic is proposed, salting‐out‐after‐syneresis of PVA, to realize a mechanically robust and highly transparent slippery PVA hydrogel. The syneresis of PVA sol is first conducted to form highly dense and transparent PVA polymer networks, then the salting‐out effect tunes the aggregation…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 52005484, 52175201
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2022YFB4600101
• SA
  Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province

  Award: 20JR5RA558