水凝胶具有高含水量和类似于细胞外基质的特点，可用于模拟细胞外基质和软组织的生物化学和生物物理性质。甲壳素/壳聚糖具有与组织细胞中的糖胺聚糖类似的结构，可以被生物体内的溶菌酶降解为葡萄糖胺和N-乙酰基葡萄糖胺，在药物控释、组织工程支架、创伤敷料等生物医学工程领域有着独特的优势。本项目拟以海洋生物质alpha-甲壳素和beta-甲壳素为原料，建立基于KOH/尿素水溶液的一体化甲壳素/壳聚糖高效、“绿色”转化体系，阐明溶解机理。通过对甲壳素/壳聚糖进行分子设计和多级结构尤其是聚集态结构调控，结合低维纳米材料的协同效应，构建高强韧、多功能甲壳素/壳聚糖基水凝胶，弄清其构效关系并评价生物医学功能，探索在组织工程、再生医学和柔性电子器件等领域的潜在应用。上述研究工作将使我国在天然高分子领域的国际竞争中占据主动地位，对我国海洋生物质新材料战略性产业的发展具有重要意义。

Hydrogels, with high water content and similar to native extracellular matrix, can be used to mimic biochemical and biophysical properties of extracellular matrices and soft tissues. Chitin and chitosan exhibits structural similarity to that of glycosaminoglycan in tissue cells and can be degraded by lysozyme in vivo to glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine. Chitin and chitosan have unique advantages for applications in the fields of controlled release, tissue engineering, wound dressing and other biomedical engineering technologies. This project is aimed to use the marine biomass alpha-chitin and beta-chitin as raw materials to establish an integrated system to achieve high-efficiency and "green" transformations of chitin and chitosan based on an aqueous KOH/urea solution, and also to elucidate the dissolution mechanism. Through the molecular design and hierarchical structure regulation especially the aggregation state, with the synergistic effects of low-dimensional nanomaterials, high-strength, tough and multifunctional chitin and chitosan-based hydrogels are constructed, and the structure-property relationship and evaluation of biomedical functions will be carried out, the potential applications in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and flexible electronic devices will be explored. The above research work will enable China to take an active position in the international competition in the field of natural polymers, and will also be of great significance to the development of strategic industries for new materials based on marine biomass in China for the foreseeable future.