title: Hydrogels from Amorphous Calcium Carbonate and Polyacrylic Acid: Bio-Inspired Materials for "Mineral Plastics".
abstract: Given increasing environmental issues due to the large usage of non-biodegradable plastics based on petroleum, new plastic materials, which are economic, environmentally friendly, and recyclable are in high demand. One feasible strategy is the bio-inspired synthesis of mineral-based hybrid materials. Herein we report a facile route for an amorphous CaCO3 (ACC)-based hydrogel consisting of very small ACC nanoparticles physically cross-linked by poly(acrylic acid). The hydrogel is shapeable, stretchable, and self-healable. Upon drying, the hydrogel forms free-standing, rigid, and transparent objects with remarkable mechanical performance. By swelling in water, the material can completely recover the initial hydrogel state. As a matrix, thermochromism can also be easily introduced. The present hybrid hydrogel may represent a new class of plastic materials, the "mineral plastics".
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.|School of Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shengtong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhouyue
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Physical Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany. helmut.coelfen@uni-konstanz.de.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cölfen
keywords: amorphous calcium carbonate; bio-inspired synthesis; organic-inorganic hybrid composites; plasticity; supramolecular hydrogels