Journal
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 143, Issue 37, Pages 15279-15285Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c06494
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- JSPS [18H05260, 16H06035]
- Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences
- Nanotechnology Platform of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [16H06035] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study found that the mechanically robust polymer material PTUEG(3) can self-heal at ambient temperatures, but loses its mechanical strength when it absorbs water and is plasticized under high humidity. By copolymerizing PTUEG(3) with Cy2M thiourea unit, a humidity-tolerant and mechanically robust polymer material that can self-heal was developed.
Although mechanically robust polymer materials had not been thought to self-heal, we recently found that poly(ether thiourea) PTUEG(3), which is a glassy polymer with high mechanical strength, self-heals even at ambient temperatures. This finding updated the above preconception. Nevertheless, it should also be noted that PTUEG(3), under high humidity, absorbs water and is plasticized to lose its mechanical strength. Humidity-induced plasticization is a general problem for polymers with polar groups. Herein, we report that PTUEG(3), if designed by copolymerization to contain only 10 mol % of a dicyclohexylmethane (Cy2M) thiourea unit (TUCy2M), serves as a humidity-tolerant, mechanically robust polymer material that can self-heal at ambient temperatures. This copolymer contained, in its ether thiourea (TUEG(3))-rich domain, a humidity-tolerant, noncovalently cross-linked 3D network with mechanical robustness formed by stacking of the Cy2M group. The present work provides a promising design strategy for mechanically robust, self-healable polymers usable under high humidity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available