High‐Strength, Rapidly Self‐Recoverable, and Antifatigue Nano‐SiO2/Poly(Acrylamide–Lauryl Methacrylate) Composite Hydrogels

Creating load-bearing hydrogels with superior mechanical strength and toughness is of vital importance for promoting the development of polymer hydrogels toward practical applications. Herein, a type of composite hydrogel is facilely fabricated employing simple and effective UV irradiation one-pot method by introducing cheap and available nanosilica sol into hydrophobic association poly(acrylamide-lauryl methacrylate) (HAPAM gels). Composite hydrogels exhibit enhanced mechanical strength (compression stress reaching 4.4 MPa) and toughness (compression hysteresis energy achieved is 151.15 kJ m(-3)) compared to HAPAM gels. Composite hydrogels also demonstrate rapid self-recovery behavior (95.91% stress recovery and 92.19% hysteresis energy recovery after restoration for 15 min, respectively) and favorable fatigue-resistant ability without the help of external stimuli at room temperature based on the cyclic loading-unloading compression measurements. The simple and effective design strategy may help the development of hydrogel materials toward practical applications for soft sensors, tissue engineering, and actuators.