A convenient green preparation of layered double hydroxide/polyacrylamide nanocomposite hydrogels with ultrahigh deformability.

A convenient green preparation method has been developed to achieve layered double hydroxide (LDH)/polymer nanocomposite (NC) hydrogels. In contrast to previous publications using toxic organic solvent of formamide or methanol in LDH exfoliation or anion exchange, the interlayer anion exchange and exfoliation of LDH are completed in one step with the help of an amino acid (L-serine). The LDH/polyacrylamide (PAM) NC hydrogels are achieved by a convenient exfoliation-adsorption in situ polymerization method. The exfoliation of LDH is characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Interestingly, the developed NC hydrogels reveal ultrahigh deformability and extraordinary stretchability, confirmed by qualitative images and qualitative tensile and compression tests. The molecular mechanism for the ultrahigh deformability and extraordinary stretchability is discussed by crosslinking density, inter-crosslinking molecular weight and swelling tests. We believe that the findings reported herein will deepen our understanding towards the chemistry of network soft materials including gels, and further widen the applications of polymer hydrogels in mechanical devices such as artificial muscles, biomedical devices and drug delivery systems.