Improved mechanical properties of polyacrylamide hydrogels created in the presence of low-molecular-weight hydrogelators

Polyacrylamide hydrogels were prepared using molecular hydrogels composed of a low-molecular-weight gelator system, octylaldonamide/sodium dodecyl sulfate as templates by photopolymerization, and the effect of the template on the polymer hydrogel network was examined on the basis of the polymer hydrogels' performance in compression tests. It was found that the crushing stress of the obtained polymer hydrogels was enhanced by using the molecular gel templates.