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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

A Facile and Efficient Approach for the Production of Reversible Disulfide Cross-linked Micelles
Published on: December 23, 2016
Self-Healing Polycaprolactone Networks through Thermo-Induced Reversible Disulfide Bond Formation
Liangdong Zhang1, Teng Qiu1, Zhiqiang Zhu1
1State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers, Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Polycaprolactone (PCL) networks with disulfide bonds are synthesized through a thiol-ene "click" reaction. The PCL networks have various functional properties, including self-healing, shape memory, reprocessability, and degradability. Pronouncedly, a healing efficiency of 92% on the yield strength of the PCL network is obtained after heating for 1 h at 60 °C. Meanwhile, the PCL networks show shape memory property with fixing ratio (R f ) and recovery ratio (R r ) at 98% and 95%, respectively. The PCL network still retains good mechanical properties after reprocessing cycles and can be fast-decomposed through a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction.
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