Glycerol‐modified poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(ethylene glycol) self‐healing hydrogel for artificial cartilage

Abstract Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels have shown potential applications in bionic articular cartilage due to their tissue‐like viscoelasticity, good biocompatibility and low friction. However, their lack of adequate mechanical properties is a key obstacle for PVA hydrogels to replace natural cartilage. In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and glycerol were introduced into PVA, and a PVA/PEG–glycerol composite hydrogel was synthesized using a mixing physical crosslinking method. The mechanical properties, hydrophilicity and tribological behavior of the PVA/PEG–glycerol hydrogel were investigated by changing the concentration of glycerol in PEG. The results showed that the tensile strength of the hydrogel reached 26.6 MPa at 270% elongation at break with 20 wt% of glycerol plasticizer, which satisfied the demand of natural cartilage. In addition, the excellent hydrophilicity of glycerol provides good lubricating properties for the composite gel under dry friction. Meanwhile, self‐healing and cellular immunity assays demonstrated that the composite gel could have good self‐healing ability and excellent biocompatibility even in the absence of external stimuli. This study provides a new candidate material for the design of articular cartilage, which has the potential to facilitate advances in artificial joint cartilage repair. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry.