An atomistic and experimental approach to study the effect of water and nanofillers on the compressive strength of PEGDA hydrogels for cartilage replacement

Abstract

Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel is emerging as a potential candidate for biomedical applications, particularly cartilage replacement. However, due to weak mechanical strength, their applications are still in the infancy for cartilage replacement. In this article, authors have reported the compressive strength of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) reinforced PEGDA hydrogels in conjunction with different water content. A combined experimental and atomistic approach (Molecular Dynamics) was employed to explore the compressive strength of nanocomposite hydrogels. It was reported from the experimental analysis that h-BN acts as a superior reinforcement for the compressive strength at lower water content. The Molecular Dynamics (MD) based simulations also predict a similar trend with h-BN and water content. The MD-based study gives insight into scrutinizing the behavior of polymer chains and their entanglement and sheds light on microscale phenomena that are usually inaccessible through experiments alone. It can be concluded from the experiments in conjunction with MD simulations that at higher water content, the contact points between h-BN nanosheets and polymer chains decrease, mitigating the overall compressive strength of PEGDA hydrogels. In summary, this study enables us to obtain meaningful mechanical properties that mimic the strength of human articular cartilage.