Diagram of Molecular Structure (IMAGE)

Harvard University

Diagram of Molecular Structure

Caption

By themselves, polyacrylamide gels (a) and alginate gels (b) are brittle. The new hydrogel (c), however, has a more complex molecular structure that helps to dissipate stress across a wide area. The red circles represent calcium ions, and the blue triangles and green squares represent covalent crosslinks between chains.

Credit

Image courtesy of Jeong-Yun Sun and Widusha R. K. Illeperuma

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