Tough hydrogel could replace damaged cartilage in joints

According to a statement, the new hydrogel material is a hybrid of two weak gels that combine to create something much stronger.

Not only can this new gel stretch to 21 times its original length, but it is also exceptionally tough, self-healing, and biocompatible — attributes that open up new opportunities in medicine and tissue engineering.

The material, its properties, and a simple method of synthesis are described in the 6 September issue of Nature.

‘Conventional hydrogels are very weak and brittle — imagine a spoon breaking through jelly,’ said lead author Jeong-Yun Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). ‘But because they are water-based and biocompatible, people would like to use them for some very challenging applications such as artificial cartilage or spinal disks. For a gel to work in those settings, it has to be able to stretch and expand under compression and tension without breaking.’