Incorporating Electrospun Fibers Into Ultra-Strong Hydrogels

Abstract

Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymer networks that exhibit high biocompatibility due to their high water content. In applications such as musculoskeletal repair, their main limiting factor is their relatively low mechanical strength. By increasing mechanical strength and toughness, the application range of these hydrogels can be widened. In previous work, ultra-strong, double network (DN) hydrogelshave been developed whichexhibit improved mechanical properties, with a compressive strength ~ 25.8 MPa and a compressive modulus ~ 1.2 MPa.However, theseDN hydrogels showedpoor resistance to injury, limitingtheirclinicalapplications.In this work,electrospun PCL fibers were incorporated into the ultra-strongDNhydrogelsas a physical reinforcementto further improve their mechanical properties.Notably, a mesh plate collector was utilized to form the PCL fibers into a woven pattern via electrospinning, creating a highly organized fiber mesh.By integrating the PCL fiber meshe sinto the ultra-strong DNhydrogels, the high tensile strength (~1.2 MPa) was maintained while the tensile modulus (~1.8 MPa) and tear resistance (>4x DN hydrogel without fibers)were significantly enhanced.Furthermore, DN mesh-gels were fabricated with exposed fibers to permit direct suturing to tissues or preexisting devices, previously not achievable with most hydrogel materials