Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media

Yu-Si Long; Mei-Yi Lu; Jia-Wei Qi; Geng Chen; Yu Sun; Xiu-Xia He; Tian-Hui Zhang; Li-Guo Cui; Jun-Li Hu; Yi-Chun Liu

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2

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Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels via Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-02

- Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels via Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Issue 8, Pages: 2549-2560(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Key Laboratory of UV Light-Emitting Materials and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
  b.School of Life Science and Technology, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130013, China
  c.Changchun SinoBiomaterials Co., Ltd., Changchun 130103, China
- Author bio：
  
  hujl100@nenu.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2
  CLC：
- Received：18 December 2025，
  
  Revised：2026-03-05，
  
  Accepted：11 March 2026，
  
  Online First：02 July 2026，
  
  Published：15 August 2026
- Accepted：
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Long, Y. S.; Lu, M. Y.; Qi, J. W.; Chen, G.; Sun, Y.; He, X. X.; Zhang, T. H.; Cui, L. G.; Hu, J. L.; Liu, Y. C. Green fabrication of high-strength silk fibroin hydrogels via thermal oscillation in all-aqueous media. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2549–2560

Yu-Si Long, Mei-Yi Lu, Jia-Wei Qi, et al. Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels via Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2549-2560. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2.
Long, Y. S.; Lu, M. Y.; Qi, J. W.; Chen, G.; Sun, Y.; He, X. X.; Zhang, T. H.; Cui, L. G.; Hu, J. L.; Liu, Y. C. Green fabrication of high-strength silk fibroin hydrogels via thermal oscillation in all-aqueous media. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2549–2560 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2.

Yu-Si Long, Mei-Yi Lu, Jia-Wei Qi, et al. Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels via Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(8): 2549-2560. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2. DOI：

摘要

A thermal oscillation strategy was developed for the fabrication of high-strength silk fibroin hydrogels exclusively from all-aqueous silk fibroin solutions

eliminating the need for toxic chemicals or non-degradable materials.

Abstract

Silk fibroin hydrogels frequently exhibit insufficient mechanical strength for biomedical applications. Conventional enhancement strategies often rely on toxic crosslinkers or nondegradable components

thereby compromising biocompatibility and biodegradability. Recently emerged organic solvent-based methods represent an advance

but their associated environmental toxicity remains a concern. In this work

we present a novel thermal oscillation strategy for fabricating high-strength silk fibroin hydrogels exclusively from all-aqueous silk fibroin solutions

eliminating the need for toxic chemicals or non-degradable materials. The resulting hydrogels exhibit outstanding mechanical properties

tensile strength of 2.6 MPa

elongation rate of 152.6%

and toughness of 3.0 MJ/m

which not only surpass the organic solvent-derived silk fibroin hydrogels but also rival the dual-crosslinked

double-networked or composite systems. The silk fibroin hydrogels also exhibit a minimal swelling ratio

outstanding long-term integrity

and excellent biocompatibility. The robust

biocomp

atible

and biodegradable silk fibroin hydrogels are promising for biomedical applications such as load-bearing tissue scaffolds

long-term implantable drug delivery systems

and durable wound dressings.

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references

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Green Fabrication of High-strength Silk Fibroin Hydrogels via Thermal Oscillation in All-aqueous Media

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3645-2

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references