title: Tough photoluminescent hydrogels doped with lanthanide.
abstract: Photoluminescent hydrogels have emerged as novel soft materials with potential applications in many fields. Although many photoluminescent hydrogels have been fabricated, their scope of usage has been severely limited by their poor mechanical performance. Here, a facile strategy is reported for preparing lanthanide (Ln)-alginate/polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels with both high toughness and photoluminescence, which has been achieved by doping Ln(3+) ions (Ln = Eu, Tb, Eu/Tb) into alginate/PAAm hydrogel networks, where Ln(3+) ions serve as both photoluminescent emitters and physical cross-linkers. The resulting hydrogels exhibit versatile advantages including excellent mechanical properties (∼ MPa strength, ≈ 20 tensile strains, ≈ 10(4) kJ m(-3) energy dissipation), good photoluminescent performance, tunable emission color, excellent processability, and cytocompatibility. The developed tough photoluminescent hydrogels hold great promises for expanding the usage scope of hydrogels.
authors.affiliation: School of Science, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, Shaan Xi, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mei Xiang
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Can Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhen Qi
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jinxiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.forename: Jian Hai
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yong Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D051379:Mice; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000464:Alginates; D020100:Hydrogels; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D049408:Luminescent Agents; C016680:polyacrylamide gels
keywords: hydrogels; lanthanide; photoluminescence; tough