Abstract: Natural articular cartilage exhibits good load-bearing and lubrication properties during joint motions, and even has ultra-low friction coefficient under extreme conditions. However, it would be damaged by lesions or abrasions and it is difficult to self-heal after damage. Biomimetic high load-bearing, low-friction hydrogel lubricating materials similar to biological tissues have become an ideal material to replace articular cartilage. Based on the solid-liquid two-phase and layered structure characteristics of natural articular cartilage, the high load-bearing, low-friction porous hydrogel-polymer brush (pore-brush) layered hydrogel materials was constructed in the study. A high-strength layered hydrogel with porous surface was first prepared using template method and then polymer brush was grafted from the porous surface of hydrogel using atom transfer radical polymerization. The bottom of pore-brush layered hydrogel had high-strength network with excellent load-bearing capacity. The porous structure on the surface of the pore-brush layered hydrogel could effectively reduce the contact area between friction pairs and store lubricant. Meanwhile, the grafted polymer brush had good hydration ability, resulting in good lubrication performance on the hydrogel surface and it could be controlled by changing the grafting time and the type of polymer brush. Using deionized water as lubricant, the friction coefficient of pore-brush layered hydrogel was as low as 0.019 under 20 N applied load, and it remained stable after 10 000 reciprocating friction cycles, and the porous structure remained intact, indicating that the porous-brush layered hydrogel had excellent high load-bearing, low-friction and anti-wear properties. The study would provide a novel approach for the design and preparation of biomimetic articular cartilage materials.