Mechanically diverse polymer gels are commonly integrated into biomedical devices, soft robots, and tissue engineering scaffolds to perform distinct yet coordinated functions in wet environments. Such multigel systems are prone to volume fluctuations and shape distortions due to differential swelling driven by osmotic solvent redistribution. Living systems evade these issues by varying proximal tissue stiffness at nearly equal water concentration. However, this feature is challenging to replicate with synthetic gels: any alteration of cross-link density affects both the gel’s swellability and mechanical properties. In contrast to the conventional coupling of physical properties, we report a strategy to tune the gel modulus independent of swelling ratio by regulating network strand flexibility with brushlike polymers. Chemically identical gels were constructed with a broad elastic modulus range at a constant solvent fraction by utilizing multidimensional network architectures. The general design-by-architecture framework is universally applicable to both organogels and hydrogels and can be further adapted to different practical applications.

中文翻译：

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具有相同溶剂含量的机械性能多样化的凝胶


机械多样化的聚合物凝胶通常集成到生物医学设备、软机器人和组织工程支架中，以在潮湿环境中执行独特但协调的功能。由于渗透溶剂重新分布驱动的差异溶胀，这种多层凝胶系统容易出现体积波动和形状扭曲。生命系统通过在几乎相同的水浓度下改变近端组织的硬度来避免这些问题。然而，用合成凝胶复制这一特性具有挑战性：交联密度的任何改变都会影响凝胶的溶胀性和机械性能。与物理性质的传统耦合相反，我们报告了一种通过用刷状聚合物调节网络链柔韧性来调节凝胶模量而与溶胀比无关的策略。通过利用多维网络结构，在恒定的溶剂分数下构建了具有广泛弹性模量范围的化学相同的凝胶。通用的架构设计框架普遍适用于有机凝胶和水凝胶，并且可以进一步适应不同的实际应用。