Network modeling of the chitin nanofiber/poly-epoxy hybrid network in the double-network hydrogel.

Semiflexible biopolymer can be constructed to a high swelling network by introducing a self-condensable epoxy crosslinker to form a hybrid network containing rigid nanofibers from biopolymer and soft segments from polymerized crosslinker. Such a method is successfully applied on chitin to fabricate the first network of a double network hydrogel. However, this hybrid network draws a major confusion that how each component contributes to the network parameters. In this work, we intend to alleviate this issue by referring to the current well-studied semiflexible system to evaluate the persistence length to identify the mechanical contribution of chitin nanofibers. The wormlike chain model is also employed to estimate the contour length of the elastic strand in the hydrogel. Our studies provide a possible modeling theory to analyze the hybrid network consisting of rigid and soft components by the double network strategy.