Intelligent anti-impact elastomers by precisely tailoring the topology of modular polymer networks

Abstract

High-performance elastomers are essential in daily life and various industrial sectors such as personal protection, soft electronics, and vibration control. Nevertheless, despite massive efforts, concurrently achieving ultrahigh flexibility and remarkable impact resistance continues to be elusive. Herein, we report an innovative modular construction strategy that employs a topology-tailoring polymer network consisting of stereoscopic (epoxy-oligosiloxane nanoclusters) and linear (amino-terminated polyurea) building blocks as independent modules to develop intelligent anti-impact elastomers via an epoxy-amine mechanism. By precisely tailoring the topology of building blocks, the elastomers demonstrate high flexibility and toughness, remarkable impact responsiveness and ultrahigh energy dissipation. Their anti-impact ability surpasses those of most common soft and rigid materials such as steel, plastic, rubber, foam, or even polyborosiloxane. Moreover, the elastomers are well-qualified for use in flexible display technologies, owing to their high transparency (>92% transmittance), exceptional fold-resistance (no creasing after 10 000 bends), and good thermal stability (no discoloration at 100 °C). Furthermore, the elastomers exhibit excellent versatility, enabling them to be combined with either soft or rigid materials to generate composites with ultrahigh puncture and ballistic resistance. This study offers a promising framework for the design and fabrication of intelligent anti-impact elastomers and provides valuable insights into the development of next-generation protective materials.