Supplementary material from "New composite thixotropic hydrogel composed of a polymer hydrogelator and a nanosheet"

A composite gel composed of a water-soluble aromatic polyamide hydrogelator and the nanosheet Laponite^®, a synthetic layered silicate, was produced and found to exhibit thixotropic behaviour. Whereas the composite gel contains the gelator at the same concentration equal to the molecular gel made by the gelator only, the composite gel becomes softer thixotropic gel comparing to molecular gel made by the gelator only. This may be due to the reason that a bundle of polymer gelator may be loosen and the density of polymer network increased in the presence of Laponite.