Hydrogels are commonly integrated with other materials. In the one-pot synthesis of a hydrogel coating, polymerization, crosslink, and interlink are concurrent. This concurrency, however, is often inapplicable for integrating hydrogels to other materials. For example, a permeable substrate will absorb small molecules in the solution, causing side reactions and even toxicity. Here, we report a method to break the concurrency by using photoinitiator-grafted polymer chains (PGPCs). A type of photoinitiator is copolymerized with various monomers. The PGPCs are uncrosslinked during synthesis, have long shelf lives in dark storage, and can be applied to a substrate by brush, cast, spin, dip, spray, or print. Under ultraviolet light, the polymer chains crosslink into a network and interlink with the substrate. The cured PGPC hydrogels are characterized by mechanical tests. Furthermore, the PGPCs are demonstrated to adhere wet materials, form hydrophilic coatings on hydrophobic substrates, and pattern functional groups on permeable substrates.

水凝胶通常与其他材料结合在一起。在水凝胶涂层的一锅法合成中，聚合、交联和互连是同时进行的。然而，这种并发性通常不适用于将水凝胶集成到其他材料中。例如，渗透性基材会吸收溶液中的小分子，引起副反应甚至毒性​​。在这里，我们报告了一种通过使用光引发剂接枝聚合物链 (PGPC) 来打破并发的方法。一类光引发剂与各种单体共聚。PGPC 在合成过程中未交联，在暗处保存期限长，可以通过刷子、浇铸、旋转、浸渍、喷涂或印刷应用于基材。在紫外光下，聚合物链交联成网络并与基材互连。固化的 PGPC 水凝胶通过机械测试表征。此外，PGPC 被证明可以粘附湿材料，在疏水基材上形成亲水涂层，并在可渗透基材上图案化官能团。