Title：Cartilage-Inspired Smart Anti-Impact Gel with Highly Stable and Tailored Properties

Abstract: Smart anti-impact materials are highly desired in personal protection and industrial security. However, they suffer from poor performance control and inherent stability. Here, inspired by cartilage structure with excellent energy-absorption, we develop a dual network impact-hardening gel composed of dynamic polyborosiloxane and entangled polyethylene glycol networks. By optimizing the topology and composition of dual network, the bioinspired gel has high malleability, self-healing properties, rate dependence, and toughness. Particularly, the gel exhibits ultrahigh stability, which holds its network structure and shear-stiffening behavior after exposure to air or even soaking in water. The gel exhibits the most outstanding protective ability (reduce the impact force by 80.2% of control) compared with common materials including foam, plastic, rubber, wood, and steel. Moreover, the gel exhibits good versatility, which can combine with Kevlar fabric and foam to form a flexible anti-impact composite. Cartilage-inspired dual-network gel is expected to fuel the evolution of anti-impact devices.

DOI：10.1016/j.xcrp.2023.101289