The development of synthetic polymeric materials with high tensile strength and high extensibility is difficult as the strength and toughness are usually mutually exclusive properties. Yet, materials in nature, such as bones, collagens and spider silk, manage to create structures that combine these properties, leading to materials with improved mechanical properties.1 Nature makes use of hierarchical structures or architecture for obtaining a higher level of energy absorption and reinforcement in its materials.2 Amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCNs) are a class of materials that find application as soft contact lenses, catalysis, sensors, and as biomaterials.3 Silicone-based APCNs are elastic, transparent and swell in water and in organic solvents. However, their toughness is relative weak. Therefore, we aim to improve the mechanical properties of these APCNs by biomimetic means. Peptide-polymer hybrids combine the structural hierarchy that is often found in natural materials with synthetic macromolecules, e.g. by having soft and hard segments, in order to strengthen the material's properties. 4 We synthesized APCNs using α,ω- dimethacrylate-functionalized poly-(β-benzyl-aspartate)-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PBLA5-b-PDMS-b-PBLA5) as the hydrophobic crosslinker and poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) or poly(N-alkyl acrylamides) as the hydrophilic phase. 5 Moreover, APCNs were reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals. The mechanical properties of these materials were characterized by uniaxial tension experiments and compared to the properties of APCNs that do not feature peptide segments or cellulose nanocrystals.

Tailoring the mechanical properties of bioinspired amphiphilic polymer conetwork composites

2019 Fall National Meeting

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