Affiliation:
1. Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
2. Department of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Abstract
The lubrication of hydrogels arises from fluid or solvated surface
phases. By contrast, the lubricity of articular cartilage, a complex
biohydrogel, has been at least partially attributed to nonfluid,
lipid-exposing boundary layers. We emulated this behavior in synthetic
hydrogels by incorporating trace lipid concentrations to create a
molecularly thin, lipid-based boundary layer that renews continuously. We
observed a 80% to 99.3% reduction in friction and wear relative to the
lipid-free gel, over a wide range of conditions. This effect persists when
the gels are dried and then rehydrated. Our approach may provide a method
for sustained, extreme lubrication of hydrogels in applications from tissue
engineering to clinical diagnostics.
Funder
European
Research Council
Rothschild
Caesarea Foundation
McCutchen
Foundation
Israel Science
Foundation-National Science Foundation China
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cited by
162 articles.
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