A robust, one-pot synthesis of highly mechanical and recoverable double network hydrogels using thermoreversible sol-gel polysaccharide.

A new type of physically linked double-network hydrogel is synthesized by a simple, time-saving, facile, easily controlled, one-pot method. The resulting agar/polyacrylamide double-network hydrogels exhibit good mechanical properties, excellent recoverability, and a unique free-shapeable property, which makes them very promising hydrogels for load-bearing soft tissues. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.