Under more extreme conditions may be self-healing material

Self-healing materials can mimic human skin tissue to repair itself, significantly improve the life and safety of the material, it has a wide range of applications in the field of electronic skin, marine coatings, and biomedicine. But in the polar cold, cold sea is too extreme environments like material does not by any external energy stimulus (such as infrared, heating, etc.) assisted self-repairing, self-healing has been a problem in materials unresolved. This is because when the conventional can-healing material when damage in the sea, the water molecules barrier dynamic key injury interface material reconnection; in a low temperature environment when the injury, the dynamic characteristics of the material chemically or physically bond is significantly inhibited, crystalline polymer hardens, losing fluidity microstructure, so that the material is self-healing properties are lost. Recently, Department of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University School of Chemical Biological Professor Zhang Lei Task Force well-known in the international academic journal \” Nature Communications [ Research a variety of extreme environments on self-healing materials 123] \”published (Nature communications). PhD Graduate School of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University Guo Hong cool as the first author of the paper, Professor Zhang Lei, and young teacher Yang Jing corresponding author, School of Chemical Engineering University dissertation the first complete unit. The study was \”Qingdao Ocean Science and Technology, National Laboratory Pilot Fund\”, National Fund Commission \”excellent green\” fund, fund youth projects and support post-doctoral surface. The utilization of the work form strong hydrogen bonds, weak hydrogen bonds different hydrophilic groups, and bind the disulfide bond formation dynamic mechanism of synergism , can be quickly designed and synthesized a variety of extreme conditions self healing elastomeric material (FIG. 1). The key point of the design is based on the synergistic interaction of a plurality of dynamic keys, including strong crosslinking hydrogen bond (BNB-BNB), weakly crosslinking hydrogen bond (IP-IP, IP-BNB or IP), and disulfide bonds ( S-S). These dynamic linkages into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer backbone, spontaneously form dynamic network supramolecular polymer PDMS-SS-IP-BNB (FIGS. 1A and B). In PDMS-SS-IP-BNB, the effect of hydrophilic groups impart strong hydrogen bonds is the main material of the elastic, weak hydrogen bonds dissipated through stress fracture and reconstruction reversible bond, disulfideThe main key to providing material quick fixes and stress portions of dissipation. Synergy of these dynamic key based, PDMS-SS-IP-BNB having high stretchability, without damage to the notch, can stretch to 14,000% of its original length without breaking; gaps when the material is subjected to injury, a material still stretched to 1,300% of its original length.

Figure 1. having a high stretchability and self-healing extreme conditions of PDMS-SS-IP-BNB material molecules designed

FIG 2. PDMS-SS-IP-BNB \”all weather\” self-healing properties.More importantly, PDMS-SS-IP-BNB having \”all-weather\” self-healing properties. At room temperature within 10 minutes rapidly healing, healing can withstand 526 times its own weight of heavy loads. In a variety of extreme environmental conditions, the water (self-healing efficiency of 93%), an extremely low temperature (-40 ° C), a high concentration of the supercooled brine (30% NaCl solution to -10 ° C, self-healing efficiency 89 %), even in a strongly acidic / alkaline environment (pH = 0 or 14, the self-healing efficiency of 88% or 84%), all exhibited excellent self-healing properties, as shown in FIG. This work is important for a variety of applications to achieve self-healing materials in marine engineering, polar, high-altitude, medium industrial wastewater treatment extreme environments. Papers link: https: //www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15949-8