Synthetic materials that can mimic self-healing natural tissues such as skins and muscles are now widely applied to e-skin, wearable electronic devices, and artificial muscles, significantly improving materials’ lifetime, robustness and safety.

However, it is very challenging to develop autonomous self-healing materials for applications in harsh conditions such as at ultralow temperatures, in super cold seawater, or in stronglyacid/alkali environment.

A research team at Tianjin University led Prof. Zhang Lei and Associate Prof. Yang Jing from the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology reports to have developed a new supramolecular elastomer that can achieve fast autonomous self-healing under all various harsh conditions, and relevant research results have been published in Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15949-8).

The new design of the supramolecular elastomer with high strechability and universally autonomous self-healing ability.

Attributable to the synergistic interaction of multiple dynamic bonds, including the hydrophilic H-bonds and disulfide metathesis, the novel supramolecular elastomer developed in this work exhibits high strechability for both unnotched (14000%) and notch (1300%) samples. It can also achieve autonomous self-healing in various extreme conditions, such as ultra-low temperature (-40℃), supercooled high-concentrated saltwater (30% saltwater at -10℃), and strong acid/alkali environment (pH=0 or 14).

“This work illustrates a promising material with high-stretchable and rapid self-healing properties in multiple harsh conditions” Prof. Zhang noted, “We are working on the further development of self-healing artificial e-skins applied in extreme environment such as the deep sea and polar regions.”

By the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

Editor: Eva Yin