Mechanical Robust, Self-Healable Polyurethane Elastomer Enabled by Hierarchical Hydrogen Bonds and Disulfide Bonds

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Mechanically robust and self-healing polymeric materials are challenging to fabricate.
• Existing materials often face trade-offs between cohesive energy and relaxation dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel strategy for creating mechanically robust and self-healing polymeric materials.
• To overcome the limitations of current polymer networks by enhancing stress dissipation and network reorganization.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of polyurethane (PU) elastomer utilizing dynamic hard domains.
• Incorporation of hierarchical hydrogen bonds and disulfide bonds within the hard domains.
• Characterization of mechanical properties and self-healing efficiency.

Main Results:

• The designed PU elastomer exhibits excellent mechanical properties, including a tensile strength of 9.9 MPa and toughness of 44.87 MJ/m³.
• Achieved a high self-healing efficiency of 96.2% through synergistic effects of dynamic bonds.
• Demonstrated effective stress energy dissipation and accelerated network reorganization.

Conclusions:

• The proposed strategy effectively balances cohesive energy and relaxation dynamics in PU networks.
• This approach offers a universal method for fabricating high-performance self-healing polymers.
• The developed materials show potential for applications in flexible robotics and wearable electronics.