hydrogel-solid bonding

A University of Sydney team of biomedical engineers has developed a plasma technology to robustly attach hydrogels—a jelly-like substance which is structurally similar to soft tissue in the human body—to polymeric materials, allowing manufactured devices to better interact with surrounding tissue.

successfully combined hydrogels including those made from silk with Teflon and polystyrene polymers.

"Despite being similar to the natural tissue of the body; in medical science hydrogels are notoriously difficult to work with as they are inherently weak and structurally unstable. They do not easily attach to solids which means they often cannot be used in mechanically demanding applications such as in cartilage and bone tissue engineering,"

"There are several scenarios in which this technology can be used. The gel could be loaded with a drug to release slowly over time, or it can be used to mimic structures such as bone-cartilage,"

reference

Rashi Walia et al, Hydrogel−Solid Hybrid Materials for Biomedical Applications Enabled by Surface‐Embedded Radicals, Advanced Functional Materials (2020). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202004599