Fabrication of dual network self-healing alginate/guar gum hydrogels based on polydopamine-type microcapsules from mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Abstract In this manuscript, dual network self-healing alginate/guar gum hydrogels with polydopamine-type microcapsules from mesoporous silica nanoparticles were facilely prepared through one-pot method. Glutaraldehyde (GA) was used as a crosslinking agent to crosslink guar gum and sodium alginate, respectively. Metal−ligand interactions as reversible non-covalent bonds make the dual network hydrogels have a high degree of self-healing ability, which FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O was coordinated with sodium alginate and polydopamine on the surface of microcapsules, respectively. The dual network structure significantly enhances the strength of the hydrogels (up to 7.3 MPa). It has also proved that these hydrogels exhibit excellent self-healing performance at ambient temperatures, which self-healing efficiency can reach to 95.5%. The obtained self-healing hydrogels have a promising application prospect for the design and synthesis of functional self-healing materials.