Fabricating hydrogels to mimic biological tissues of complex shapes and high fatigue resistance

Biological tissues, such as heart valves and vocal cords, function through complex shapes and high fatigue resistance. Achieving both attributes with synthetic materials is hitherto an unmet challenge. Here we meet this challenge with hydrogels of heterogeneous structures. We fabricate a three-dimensional hydrogel skeleton by stereolithography and a hydrogel matrix by cast. Both the skeleton and matrix are elastic and stretchable, but the skeleton is much stiffer than the matrix, and their polymer networks entangle topologically. When such a hydrogel is stretched, the compliance of the matrix deconcentrates stress in the skeleton and amplifies fatigue resistance. We fabricate a homogeneous hydrogel and a heterogeneous hydrogel, each in the shape of a human heart valve. Subject to cyclic pressure, the former fractures in similar to 560 cycles but the latter is intact after 50,000 cycles. Soft materials of complex shapes and high fatigue resistance open broad opportunities for applications.

Automated summary

The challenge of achieving high fatigue resistance and complex shapes with synthetic materials has been met with hydrogels of heterogeneous structures, which show great potential for various applications.