Publications [#352377] of Benjamin J. Wiley

Journal Articles

  1. Zhao, J; Kirillova, A; Kelly, CN; Xu, H; Koshut, WJ; Yang, F; Gall, K; Wiley, BJ, "High-Strength Hydrogel Attachment through Nanofibrous Reinforcement.", Advanced healthcare materialsFebruary,, 2021, 10(4), e2001119 [doi].
    (last updated on 2026/01/19)

    Abstract:
    The repair of a cartilage lesion with a hydrogel requires a method for long-term fixation of the hydrogel in the defect site. Attachment of a hydrogel to a base that allows for integration with bone can enable long-term fixation of the hydrogel, but current methods of forming bonds to hydrogels have less than a tenth of the shear strength of the osteochondral junction. This communication describes a new method, nanofiber-enhanced sticking (NEST), for bonding a hydrogel to a base with an adhesive shear strength three times larger than the state-of-the-art. An example of NEST is described in which a nanofibrous bacterial cellulose sheet is bonded to a porous base with a hydroxyapatite-forming cement followed by infiltration of the nanofibrous sheet with hydrogel-forming polymeric materials. This approach creates a mineralized nanofiber bond that mimics the structure of the osteochondral junction, in which collagen nanofibers extend from cartilage into a mineralized region that anchors cartilage to bone.