Sprayable adhesive glycopolymer hydrogels with rapid in-situ gelation

Designing a sprayable, shear-thinning hydrogel with rapid in situ gelation opens new opportunities for biomedical applications. Most traditional sprayable hydrogels require time-of-application mixing of reactive solutions, and they face inevitable material loss during application due to their slow gelation kinetics. In this study, we introduce a novel physically crosslinked hydrogel containing saccharide pendant groups characterized by a significant degree of shear-thinning behavior and fast modulus recovery under substantial shear deformation. This hydrogel can be sprayed easily via a commercially available atomizer, and the sprayed gel adheres to a vertically aligned polystyrene Petri dish without dripping or flowing. The incorporation of sugar moieties not only contributes to maintaining the integrity of the gel network, but also facilitates dye penetration and enhances adhesive properties. By evaluating these interdependencies, this research demonstrates the intricate connections between polymer structural features, hydrogel properties, and processing as a sprayable material. Using green chemistry principles to design a sprayable, shear-thinning hydrogel with rapid in situ gelation opens new opportunities for biomedical applications.