Polymer networks are complex systems consisting of molecular components. Whereas the
properties of the individual components are typically well understood by most chemists …

Over the past few years, there has been a great deal of interest in the development of
hydrogel materials with tunable structural, mechanical, and rheological properties, which …

The mechanical properties of covalent polymer networks often arise from the permanent end-
linking or cross-linking of polymer strands, and molecular linkers that break more easily …

Soft materials are materials with a low shear modulus relative to their bulk modulus and
where elastic restoring forces are mainly of entropic origin. A sparse population of strong …

Soft polymer networks have seen an explosion of recent developments motivated by new
high tech applications in the biomedical field or in engineering. We present a candid and …

Soft robots are susceptible to premature failure from physical damages incurred within
dynamic environments. To address this, we report an elastomer with high toughness, room …

Soft materials with mechanical adaptability have substantial potential for various
applications in tissue engineering. Gaining a deep understanding of the structural evolution …

A series of tough polyion complex hydrogels is synthesized by sequential
homopolymerization of cationic and anionic monomers. Owing to the reversible interpolymer …

The fracture mechanics of hydrogels, especially those with significantly enhanced
toughness, has attracted extensive research interests. In this article we discuss the …

Despite extensive progress to engineer hydrogels for a broad range of technologies,
practical applications have remained elusive due to their (until recently) poor mechanical …