Fig. 1: Schematic of deprotonation-complexation-reprotonation strategy.
From: Control nucleation for strong and tough crystalline hydrogels with high water content
The strategy involves deprotonation of PVA for chain extension (a, b), complexation for dense and uniform nucleation(c), and reprotonation for moderate crystal growth (d), leading to a refined crystalline morphology. In contrast, conventional strategy such as salting out, air drying and wet annealing tends to form a coarsened crystalline morphology with drastic shrinkage in volume by massive chain aggregation (a, e).
