Reversibly Interlocked Macromolecular Networks Unlock a Stretchable, Self-Healing Polymer With Ultra-High White-Light...

To suppress phase separation and improve fluorophore dispersion in physically blended white-light-emitting polymer materials, while also achieving stretchability and repairability, reversibly interlocked macromolecular networks (RILNs) are employed in this work. A stretchable, self-healable, and robust RILNs-based white-light material with adjustable multi-color fluorescence is synthesized from a Schiff base bond crosslinked single network containing red-light-emitting and green-light-emitting groups and a boronic ester bond crosslinked epoxy network carrying blue-light-emitting side chains. The interlocking network's phase separation suppression effect reduces aggregation-induced quenching of the incorporated luminophores, thereby improving white-light regulation convenience and achieving an ultra-high white-light quantum yield of 58.1% for polymer-based materials (photoluminescence luminance = 359 cd m^-2 under 420 nm excitation). The resulting materials also show good mechanical properties (tensile strength = 5.5 MPa, elongation at break = 78.5%), stretchability, fatigue resistance, self-healability and recyclability. Benefited from the reversible exchange reactions of built-in reversible covalent bonds at moderate temperature, the mechanical and optical properties of the recycled materials remain nearly unchanged. The design provides a specific strategy for constructing multifunctional polymer white-light materials, with the potential to expand their scope and applications.