Biocompatible Hydrogel

Polymer network storing high water content for tissue engineering.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Crosslinked hydrogel networks can hold more than 90% water by weight yet still behave as elastic solids.
• Soft contact lenses made of pHEMA hydrogel, invented by Otto Wichterle around 1960, were among the first mass-market hydrogel products.
• Because living cells survive encapsulation in them, hydrogels such as alginate serve as tissue-engineering scaffolds and 3D-bioprinting inks.

Specifications & Metrics

• DENSITY: 1.05 g/cm³
• YIELD STRENGTH: <1 MPa
• HARDNESS: N/A