Non-covalent assembly of a super-tough, highly stretchable and environmentally adaptable self-healing material inspired by nacre

Xiaobo Zhu; Wenru Zheng; Haichao Zhao; Liping Wang

doi:10.1039/d1ta05483j

Non-covalent assembly of a super-tough, highly stretchable and environmentally adaptable self-healing material inspired by nacre

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/d1ta05483j ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (36) ◽

pp. 20737-20747

Author(s):

Xiaobo Zhu ◽

Wenru Zheng ◽

Haichao Zhao ◽

Liping Wang

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Strength ◽

Self Healing ◽

Highly Stretchable

Inspired by nacre, a super-tough self-healing material with a reverse nacre structure and interwoven network was prepared, which solved the contradiction between fast self-healing ability and good mechanical strength of traditional PU materials.

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Dynamic Nanohybrid-Polysaccharide Hydrogels for Soft Wearable Strain Sensing

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21113574 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (11) ◽

pp. 3574

Author(s):

Pejman Heidarian ◽

Hossein Yousefi ◽

Akif Kaynak ◽

Mariana Paulino ◽

Saleh Gharaie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Strength ◽

Strain Sensors ◽

Self Healing ◽

Nano Materials ◽

Strain Sensing ◽

Ferric Ions ◽

Research Activity ◽

Adhesion Properties ◽

High Mechanical Strength ◽

The Moment

Electroconductive hydrogels with stimuli-free self-healing and self-recovery (SELF) properties and high mechanical strength for wearable strain sensors is an area of intensive research activity at the moment. Most electroconductive hydrogels, however, consist of static bonds for mechanical strength and dynamic bonds for SELF performance, presenting a challenge to improve both properties into one single hydrogel. An alternative strategy to successfully incorporate both properties into one system is via the use of stiff or rigid, yet dynamic nano-materials. In this work, a nano-hybrid modifier derived from nano-chitin coated with ferric ions and tannic acid (TA/Fe@ChNFs) is blended into a starch/polyvinyl alcohol/polyacrylic acid (St/PVA/PAA) hydrogel. It is hypothesized that the TA/Fe@ChNFs nanohybrid imparts both mechanical strength and stimuli-free SELF properties to the hydrogel via dynamic catecholato-metal coordination bonds. Additionally, the catechol groups of TA provide mussel-inspired adhesion properties to the hydrogel. Due to its electroconductivity, toughness, stimuli-free SELF properties, and self-adhesiveness, a prototype soft wearable strain sensor is created using this hydrogel and subsequently tested.

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Ultrarobust, tough and highly stretchable self-healing materials based on cartilage-inspired noncovalent assembly nanostructure

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-21577-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yuyan Wang ◽

Xin Huang ◽

Xinxing Zhang

Keyword(s):

Spider Silk ◽

Self Healing ◽

High Toughness ◽

Healing Efficiency ◽

Strong Interfacial Interaction ◽

Highly Stretchable ◽

Noncovalent Bonds ◽

Actuation Devices ◽

Noncovalent Bonding ◽

Polyurethane Matrix

AbstractSelf-healing materials integrated with excellent mechanical strength and simultaneously high healing efficiency would be of great use in many fields, however their fabrication has been proven extremely challenging. Here, inspired by biological cartilage, we present an ultrarobust self-healing material by incorporating high density noncovalent bonds at the interfaces between the dentritic tannic acid-modified tungsten disulfide nanosheets and polyurethane matrix to collectively produce a strong interfacial interaction. The resultant nanocomposite material with interwoven network shows excellent tensile strength (52.3 MPa), high toughness (282.7 MJ m‒3, which is 1.6 times higher than spider silk and 9.4 times higher than metallic aluminum), high stretchability (1020.8%) and excellent healing efficiency (80–100%), which overturns the previous understanding of traditional noncovalent bonding self-healing materials where high mechanical robustness and healing ability are mutually exclusive. Moreover, the interfacical supramolecular crosslinking structure enables the functional-healing ability of the resultant flexible smart actuation devices. This work opens an avenue toward the development of ultrarobust self-healing materials for various flexible functional devices.

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