title: Zwitterionic fusion in hydrogels and spontaneous and time-independent self-healing under physiological conditions.
abstract: The biomedical applications of current self-healing materials are largely impeded by their healing conditions, which usually require heating, UV exposure or harsh pH environments. At the same time, for very few existing spontaneously self-healing materials, healing can only be achieved immediately after rupture occurs. Here, we developed a spontaneously healing material, driven by a new mechanism, "zwitterionic fusion", which is repairable independent of time after damage under physiological conditions. We also tested the anti-fatigue property of this zwitterionic hydrogel. Furthermore, we utilized this zwitterionic fusion to link different cell-hydrogel constructs together.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Sijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: sjiang@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Shaoyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D019556:COS Cells; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels
keywords: Self-healing materials; Time-independent behavior; Zwitterionic Fusion; Zwitterionic materials