Superstrong, superstiff, and conductive alginate hydrogels

Abstract

Specific mechanical properties are one of the most important issues for application of synthetic hydrogels as biological tissue, flexible electronics or in conductive membranes. Here, the authors demonstrate that a reconstruction process consisting of anisotropic densification of pre-gel and subsequent ionic crosslinking and rehydration leads to strong, stiff, and conductive alginate hydrogels with densely interconnecting networks.