Light-Driven, Super-Fast Self-Healing Transparent MXene/W₁₈O₄₉/Polyurethane Films with Superior Toughness for Thermal...

Light-driven materials have attracted great interest for their promising applications in next-generation smart devices. The incorporation of various photothermal materials into polymers has been developed for endowing composites with the capability of light harvesting and photothermal conversion, and management. However, their opaque appearance, vulnerability, and challenging processability limit their practical applications. Herein, it is successfully synthesized a series of versatile transparent films (PUMW) that combine photothermal self-healing function and mechanical strength through integrating polyurethane (PU) self-healing polymers with plasmonic enhanced MXene and W₁₈O₄₉ hybrids (MXene@W₁₈O₄₉). The resulting comprehensive film (PUMW4) maintained a visible-light transmittance of over 79% in 0.2 mm thickness, and could rapidly reach 102 °C within 5 min under light irradiation of 0.45 W cm^-2. Furthermore, it demonstrated a favorable ability for photothermal self-healing, with surface scratches disappearing in 2 min. Besides, the tensile strength of PUMW4 significantly increased from 22.7 to 30.7 MPa, in comparison with PUMW0 (pure PU). The proof of concept for an indoor thermal insulation test demonstrates that the organic glass house model covered with the film exhibited a temperature reduction of 10 °C compared to the naked model, highlighting the potential of as-prepared PUMW films in energy-saving applications for large-scale out-door buildings.