Mechanically adaptive crack-resistant hydrogels based on strain-induced macroscopic phase separation and hierarchical energy dissipation (opens in new tab)

It remains a significant challenge to simultaneously achieve high stiffness, large extensibility, and strong resistance to crack propagation in hydrogels. Here, we report a hydrogel that undergoes a fully reversible strain-induced whitening transition with a high modulus ( ~ 30 MPa), high tensile strength (~15 MPa), large stretchability ( > 1000%). Importantly, the hydrogel achieves an exceptional fracture toughness around 100 kJ m−2 and exhibits the ability to autonomously suppress crack gro...