Monomer Trapping Synthesis Toward Dynamic Nanoconfinement Self-healing Eutectogels for Strain Sensing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Intelligent materials with high strength, flexibility, and self-healing are crucial for biomedicine and human-machine interaction.
• Existing self-healing materials face a trade-off between strength, low elastic modulus, and healing ability due to weak noncovalent bonds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel self-healing material addressing the limitations of current technologies.
• To create a eutectogel with superior mechanical properties, self-healing efficiency, and low elastic modulus.

Main Methods:

• A monomer trapping synthesis strategy inspired by human fibroblasts was employed.
• Amphiphilic ionic restrictors facilitated a 7000-fold volume monomer trapping, enabling dissociation and reconfiguration.
• Nanoconfinement and dynamic interfacial interactions reinforced the molecular chain backbone.

Main Results:

• The developed eutectogels exhibited significantly enhanced tensile strength (1799% higher) and toughness (2753% higher) compared to pure polymerized deep eutectic solvent.
• Achieved excellent self-healing efficiency (>90%) and a low tangential modulus (0.367 MPa).
• Demonstrated sensitive monitoring of human activities, indicating suitability for wearable electronics.

Conclusions:

• The monomer trapping strategy offers a new approach for creating high-strength, low-modulus, self-healing materials.
• The resulting eutectogels are promising for advanced wearable electronics that require durability and responsiveness to human motion.