Antifouling poly(N-(2-hydroxyethyl)acrylamide)/sodium alginate double network hydrogels with eminent mechanical properties

Abstract In recent years, hydrogels with antifouling properties and good biocompatibility have attracted great attention in bio-devices, but most of them are lack of eminent mechanical properties that limit their practical application greatly. In this work, a newly hybrid ion-covalent cross-linked double network (DN) hydrogels with excellent antifouling as well as mechanical properties were prepared by a simple one-pot method based on sodium alginate and a kind of antifouling material, N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide (HEAA). The DN hydrogel have excellent mechanical properties, including high tensile strength (1.32 MPa), high elastic modulus (0.31 MPa) and preeminent fatigue resistance. Besides, the DN hydrogel have good antifouling properties suggested by protein adsorption and cell adhesion experiments. In addition, they also exhibit highly in vitro compatibility. These properties make the DN hydrogels suitable for application in different fields, such as tissue scaffolds, implantable devices and so on.