A Hydrogel-Film Casting to Fabricate Platelet-Reinforced Polymer Composite Films Exhibiting Superior Mechanical Properties

Abstract

The fabrication of mechanically superior polymer composite films with controllable shapes on various scales is difficult. Despite recent research on polymer composites consisting of organic matrices and inorganic materials with layered structures, these films suffer from complex preparations and limited mechanical properties that do not have even integration of high strength, stiffness, and toughness. Herein, a hydrogel-film casting approach to achieve fabrication of simultaneously strong, stiff, and tough polymer composite films with well-defined microstructure, inspired from a layer-by-layer structure of nacre is reported. Ca²⁺ -crosslinked alginate hydrogels incorporated with platelet-like alumina particles are dried to form composite films composed of horizontally aligned alumina platelets and alginate matrix with uniformly layered microstructure. Alumina platelets are evenly distributed parallel without precipitations and contribute to synergistic enhancements of strength, stiffness and toughness in the resultant film. Consequentially, Ca²⁺ -crosslinked alginate/alumina (Ca²⁺ -Alg/Alu) films show exceptional tensile strength (267 MPa), modulus (17.9 GPa), and toughness (3.60 MJ m^-3 ). Furthermore, the hydrogel-film casting allows facile preparation of polymer composite films with controllable shapes and various scales. The results suggest an alternative approach to design and prepare polymer composites with the layer-by-layer structure for superior mechanical properties.

Keywords: alginate; composite films; hydrogel-film casting; mechanical properties; nacre-inspired design.