Hydrogel toughening resets biomedical application boundaries

Hydrogels have attracted significant interest as promising biomedical materials due to their tunable physiochemical features, tailorable microstructures, high water content, and adjustable mechanical properties Despite their intrinsic advantages, the mismatch in mechanical performance between traditional hydrogels and tissues has severely restricted their utility in practical settings, generating an urgent need for developing tough hydrogels that can be used in continuous load-bearing scenarios without sacrificing other equally important mechanical features. This review summarises the evolving synthesis rationale and strategies to develop tough hydrogels, including recent considerations of biomimetic designs, which enables diverse applications of hydrogels in tissue engineering, adhesives, and drug delivery system Although challenges remain in this field, the translational applications of hydrogels are rapidly progressing, broadening the scope of material science and biomedicine.