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arXiv · 2506.14840

MXene triggers high toughness, high strength and low hysteresis hydrogels for printed artificial tissue

Chendong Zhao·Yaxing Li·Qinglong He·Shangpeng Qin·Huiqi Xie·Chuanfang Zhang
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Abstract

Substituting load-bearing tissues requires hydrogels with rapid processability, excellent mechanical strength and fatigue resistance. Conventional homogeneously polymerized hydrogels with short-chains/excessive branching exhibit low strength/toughness, being inadequate for artificial tissues. Here we introduce the heterogeneous polymerization-accelerated reaction kinetics on the Ti3C2Tx MXene microreactor and sluggish kinetics beyond-to rapidly produce hydrogels within minutes. This allows the hyperbranched domains embedded within a highly entangled matrix, leading to excellent strength (2.4 MPa)/toughness (75.2 kJ m-2) and low hysteresis (2.9%) in hydrogels superior to the rest ones. The rapid liquid-to-solid transition triggered by MXene suggests the great possibility of 3D printed robust hydrogels toward artificial tissue. Importantly, these printed hydrogels-based artificial ligaments have demonstrated impressive load-bearing capacity, wear resistance, and suturability compared to commercial analogs.

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Chendong Zhao, Yaxing Li, Qinglong He, Shangpeng Qin, Huiqi Xie, Chuanfang Zhang. 2025-06-16. MXene triggers high toughness, high strength and low hysteresis hydrogels for printed artificial tissue. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14840

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