Fig. 2

Rheological, mechanical and adhesive properties of the adhesive hydrogels. a Oscillatory time-sweep rheological analysis was performed to monitor the gelation process of the hydrogels. b Oscillatory frequency-sweep rheological analysis was performed to evaluate the stability of the completely gelled hydrogels in the range of 0.1–10 Hz. c Photographs of the gelation process exhibited by vial-inversion method and letters “PEGS” written by the hydrogels. d Schematic illustrations of the hydrogels without (i) and with (ii) CaP nanoparticles under stretched state. e Ultimate tensile stress-strain curves and f tensile modulus of the hydrogels. g Photographs of the rectangular PEGS/20ICPN hydrogel in the original and stretched states. h Photographs illustrating the injectability, fast gelation, instant and strong adhesion to bone of PEGS/20ICPN hydrogel (scar bar: 10 mm). The hydrogel was stained with Reactive blue (Macklin, Shanghai). i Photographs illustrating the in vitro simulation of the distraction procedure, including tibial transverse osteotomy, application of hydrogels and tensile tests (scar bar: 5 mm). j Typical force-displacement curves of the hydrogels and commercial fibrin glue adhered to bones