Abstract: In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was first prepared by an improved Hummers method, and then self-healing hydrogels based on poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and GO were synthesized through in-situ polymerization with Fe3+ as a crosslinking agent. Effects of GO, Fe3+ and H2O contents on the swelling and mechanical properties of self-healing hydrogels were investigated, and the self-healing performance of the hydrogels was evaluated. The results indicated that the self-healing hydrogels achieved optimum mechanical properties with tensile strength of 743.5 kPa and elongation at break of 2940.5 % when Fe3+, GO and H2O contents were set to 0.5 mol%, 0.5 wt% and 80 wt%, respectively. The self-healing hydrogels obtained the maximum water absorption at the GO content of 0.25 wt%. PAA/GO hydrogels developed by this work exhibited excellent self-healing properties.

Key words: hydrogel, graphene oxide, poly(acrylic acid), self-healing, mechanical property