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Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
Poly(Ionic Liquid) Double-Network Elastomers with High-Impact Resistance Enhanced by Cation-π Interactions
Qingning Li1, Weizheng Li1, Ziyang Liu1
1Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Soft Material and New Energy, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
Abstract:
With the continuous development of impact protection materials, lightweight, high-impact resistance, flexibility, and controllable toughness are required. Here, tough and impact-resistant poly(ionic liquid) (PIL)/poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) double-network (DN) elastomers are constructed via multiple cross-linking of polymer networks and cation-π interactions of PIL chains. Benefiting from the strong noncovalent cohesion achieved by the cation-π interactions in PIL chains, the prepared PIL DN elastomers exhibit extraordinary compressive strength (95.24 ± 2.49 MPa) and toughness (55.98 ± 0.66 MJ m-3) under high-velocity impact load (5000 s-1). The synthesized PIL DN elastomer combines strength and flexibility to protect fragile items from impact. This strategy provides a new research idea in the field of the next generation of safety and protective materials.
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