This article reviews the recently developed tough, self-recovery, and self-healing polyampholyte hydrogels. Polyampholyte hydrogels are synthesized using one-step radical copolymerization of cationic and anionic monomers with equal charges at high monomer concentration. The random copolymerization process makes the ionic monomers randomly distributing along the backbones, resulting in the formation of ionic bonds with a wide strength distribution via inter and intra chain complexation in the polymer network, weak bond and strong bonds. The strong bonds serve as permanent cross-linking, integrating the hydrogels to impart the elastic behavior, while the weak bonds can break upon the loading, dissipating energy to give the toughness, and re-form again after unloading to enable the self-recovery behavior. Accordingly, polyampholyte hydrogels have condensed polymers in water (ca 40−50 wt %). They are strongly viscoelastic and have a high toughness (fracture energy of 4000 J/m²), a wide range of tuning modulus (0.01 to 8 MPa), 100% self-recovery, and a high self-healing efficiency after cutting.

本文回顾了最近开发的坚韧，自我修复和自我修复的聚两性电解质水凝胶。聚两性电解质水凝胶是通过阳离子和阴离子单体在高单体浓度下等电荷的一步式自由基共聚而合成的。无规共聚过程使离子单体沿着主链随机分布，从而通过聚合物网络中的链间和链内络合，弱键和强键形成具有宽强度分布的离子键。强键充当永久性交联，整合水凝胶以赋予弹性行为，而弱键可在加载时断裂，耗散能量以提供韧性，并在卸载后重新形成以实现自我恢复行为。因此，聚两性电解质水凝胶具有在水中的浓缩聚合物（约40-50 wt％）。它们具有很强的粘弹性，并且具有很高的韧性（断裂能为4000 J / m²），调节模量范围广（0.01至8 MPa），自恢复100％，切割后的自修复效率高。