Stiff, Self-Healable, Transparent Polymers with Synergetic Hydrogen Bonding Interactions
Ren’ai Li, Kaili Zhang, Guangxue Chen, Bin Su, Minghui He
Abstract
Macromolecular polymers with high mechanical strength usually have high crystallinity and tightly entangled segments, hindering the self-healing of fracture interfaces. In this work, we report stiff, self-healable, transparent polymer (SSHTP) materials made of hard and strong poly(acrylamide/choline chloride) and soft and reversible poly(acrylic acid/choline chloride) segments. SSHTPs can be easily fabricated in 1 min by photoinitiated copolymerization of two kinds of polymerizable deep eutectic solvent monomers, simultaneously obtaining high optical transmittance, superior mechanical strength, and self-healing capability. Due to the synergetic interactions of the high-density hydrogen bonds in the microphase-separated polymer matrix, damaged SSHTPs can autonomously self-heal fractures under moderate conditions, and healed SSHTPs can withstand greater than 500× their own weight without breakage. Our investigation provides a simple, feasible, and green methodology for the design of transparent healable stiff polymers which have promising applications in various industrial and technological fields.