

FOLLOWUS
Shandong Key Laboratory of Renewable Membrane Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
cong.du@qdu.edu.cn
Received:28 January 2026,
Revised:2026-03-15,
Accepted:16 March 2026,
Online First:09 June 2026,
Published:15 August 2026
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Zhou, H. X.; Liu, L. C.; Kong, D. S.; Yuan, H.; Du, C. Biodegradable alginate-based fibers with high mechanical performance and aqueous stability via stretch-mediated network engineering. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2513–2523
Han-Xu Zhou, Ling-Chun Liu, De-Shuai Kong, et al. Biodegradable Alginate-based Fibers with High Mechanical Performance and Aqueous Stability
Zhou, H. X.; Liu, L. C.; Kong, D. S.; Yuan, H.; Du, C. Biodegradable alginate-based fibers with high mechanical performance and aqueous stability via stretch-mediated network engineering. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 2513–2523 DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3671-0.
Han-Xu Zhou, Ling-Chun Liu, De-Shuai Kong, et al. Biodegradable Alginate-based Fibers with High Mechanical Performance and Aqueous Stability
Sodium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) double-network fibers are fabricated
via
a facile and green procedure
which overcome the trade-off between strength and toughness without sacrificing the aqueous stability and biodegradability.
Seaweed polysaccharide-based fibers featuring incomparable merits
such as green fabrication procedures and intrinsic functionalities
are promising sustainable alternatives to petrochemical fibers that threaten both the ecological environment and human health. However
achieving simultaneously high strength
toughness
and stability of seaweed polysaccharide fibers remains a long-standing challenge owing to their low crystallinity and ionic crosslinks. Herein
we report a stretch-mediated network engineering strategy to overcome this limitation. Anisotropic architectures composed of dual-crosslinked sodium alginate and chemically crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) are prepared by pre-stretching. The highly ordered chemically crosslinked networks endow the fibers with high strength
and the anisotropic double networks prevent stress concentration and enable high toughness. The resultant fibers exhibit a tensile strength of 547.8 MPa
Young's modulus of 17.6 GPa
and toughness of 43.3 MJ/m
3
surpassing most regenerated biomass fibers. Ad
ditionally
fibers with an anisotropic network exhibit good aqueous stability
guaranteeing their usage in diverse solution environments and potential applications in triboelectric textiles. This study demonstrates a general and scalable strategy to decouple the strength–toughness trade-off in polysaccharide fibers without sacrificing biodegradability
thereby providing new insights into the structural design of robust
stable
and sustainable biomass-based fibers.
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