Supramolecular assembly of self-healing nanocomposite hydrogels.

Hierarchical self-assembly of transient composite hydrogels is demonstrated through a two-step, orthogonal strategy using nanoparticle tectons interconnected through metal-ligand coordination complexes. The resulting materials are highly tunable with moduli and viscosities spanning many orders of magnitude, and show promising self-healing properties, while maintaining complete optical transparency.