Issue

Vol. 17 (2025)

Nonswelling Lubricative Nanocolloidal Hydrogel Resistant to Biodegradation

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01830-0
Tiantian Ding
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Chunxia Ren
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People’s Republic of China
Liyuan Meng
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Guoyong Han
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Yao Xue
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Wenlong Song
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Daowei Li
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People’s Republic of China
Hongchen Sun
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering, Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, People’s Republic of China
Bai Yang
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China
Yunfeng Li
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Yunfeng Li

yflichem@jlu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 327

Abstract

Hydrogels derived from biopolymers have numerous applications in bioengineering, drug delivery, wound healing, and wearable devices. Yet, their strong swelling and uncontrollable degradation stimulate the development of hydrogels that overcome these limitations. Here, we report nanocolloidal hydrogels formed from nanoparticles of methacryloyl-modified biopolymers that exhibit resistance to swelling and enzymatic degradation both in vitro and in vivo, along with exhibiting a broad-range of mechanical and lubrication properties, wear resistance and biocompatibility. The nonswelling behavior of nanocolloidal hydrogels takes origin in the resistance to swelling of their hydrophobic regions which are resulted from the nanophase of hydrophobic methacryloyl groups in the interior of the constituent nanoparticles. The developed approach to the preparation of nanocolloidal hydrogel with greatly enhanced properties will have applications in long-term drug delivery and cell culture, soft tissue augmentation, and implantable bioelectronics.


Highlights:
1 Novel nanocolloidal hydrogels form nanoparticles of methacryloyl-modified biopolymers.
2 The nanocolloidal hydrogels exhibit tunable mechanical properties, nonswelling behavior, excellent biodegradation resistance, and good biocompatibility.
3 The nanocolloidal hydrogels show outstanding lubrication with a friction coefficient as low as ~ 0.0018.

Keywords

Nanocolloidal hydrogel Nonswelling Degradation resistance Low friction
Ding, Tiantian, Chunxia Ren, Liyuan Meng, Guoyong Han, Yao Xue, Wenlong Song, Daowei Li, Hongchen Sun, Bai Yang, and Yunfeng Li. 2025. “Nonswelling Lubricative Nanocolloidal Hydrogel Resistant to Biodegradation”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (July):327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01830-0.
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