Aqueous solutions or gels of polyampholytes attract interest for more than half a century due to their several attractive properties. We present here thermally healable hydrophobically modified physical polyampholyte (PA) hydrogels based on oppositely charged 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane-1-sulfonic acid sodium salt (AMPS) and (3-acrylamidopropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) monomers. PA hydrogels were prepared via micellar polymerization technique in the presence of the hydrophobic monomer n-octadecyl acrylate (C18A) in aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions. Charge-balanced PA hydrogels containing 60–90% water exhibit a high tensile strength and stretchability of up to 202 kPa and 1239%, respectively. Above 7 mol% C18A, swollen hydrogels containing around 90% water exhibit much better mechanical properties as compared with the corresponding as-prepared ones because of the stronger hydrophobic interactions in the absence of SDS micelles. Cut-and-heal tests conducted at 50 °C reveal a complete healing efficiency with respect to Young’s modulus for all as-prepared PA hydrogels within 1–4 h. Graphical abstract .

中文翻译：

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通过疏水改性的高度可拉伸和热修复的聚两性电解质水凝胶

半个多世纪以来，聚两性电解质的水溶液或凝胶因其多种吸引人的特性而引起人们的兴趣。我们在此介绍了基于带相反电荷的 2-丙烯酰胺-2-甲基丙烷-1-磺酸钠盐 (AMPS) 和 (3-丙烯酰胺丙基) 三甲基氯化铵 (APTAC) 单体的可热修复疏水改性物理聚两性电解质 (PA) 水凝胶。PA 水凝胶是通过胶束聚合技术在疏水单体丙烯酸正十八酯 (C18A) 的存在下在十二烷基硫酸钠 (SDS) 水溶液中制备的。含有 60-90% 水的电荷平衡 PA 水凝胶分别具有高达 202 kPa 和 1239% 的高拉伸强度和拉伸性。高于 7 mol% C18A，由于在不存在 SDS 胶束的情况下具有更强的疏水相互作用，因此含有约 90% 水的溶胀水凝胶与相应的制备的水凝胶相比表现出更好的机械性能。在 50 °C 下进行的切割和愈合测试表明，所有制备的 PA 水凝胶在 1-4 小时内都具有完整的杨氏模量愈合效率。图形概要 。