Issue 3, 2019

Self-healable gradient copolymers

Abstract

Self-healing materials typically suffer from poor mechanical performance in terms of practical applications. Herein, a self-healable copolymer with a gradient distribution of hard segments on ionic polymer chains is designed. By the optimization of the monomer sequences and physical cross-linking, the copolymer exhibits excellent mechanical properties with Young's modulus up to 286 MPa and toughness over 33 MJ m−3, which represents a significant improvement compared with traditional self-healing materials. Imidazolium in this copolymer not only generates strong dynamic ionic associations and imparts mending ability, but also provides ionic conductivity for potential device applications. Environment-insensitive self-healing in the presence of moisture, water and artificial sweat is achieved. Strain sensors with rapid response (<114 ms) and high durability (no performance decrease after 7000 cycles of tensile test) are fabricated using the gradient copolymers, opening an avenue for high-performance wearable devices using polymeric materials.

Graphical abstract: Self-healable gradient copolymers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
19 Nov 2018
Accepted
11 Jan 2019
First published
15 Jan 2019

Mater. Chem. Front., 2019,3, 464-471

Self-healable gradient copolymers

J. Cui, Z. Ma, L. Pan, C. An, J. Liu, Y. Zhou and Y. Li, Mater. Chem. Front., 2019, 3, 464 DOI: 10.1039/C8QM00592C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements