Thermal, Near-Infrared Light, and Amine Solvent Triple-Responsive Recyclable Imine-Type Vitrimer: Shape Memory, Accelerated Photohealing/Welding, and Destructing Behaviors
Hua Zheng, Shenqiang Wang, Chuan Lu, Yafeng Ren, Zhao Liu, Dongliang Ding, Zhiqiang Wu, Xiangyi Wang, Yanhui Chen, Qiuyu Zhang
Abstract
Currently, polyimine vitrimer is restricted by unitary functionality and poor responsiveness to external stimuli, thus showing limited potentials for broader applications as a kind of smart material. Herein, we reported a thermal, near-infrared light, and amine solvent triple-responsive polyimine vitrimer (ACAT-vitrimer) by incorporating oligoaniline into a traditional imine-type vitrimer through the polycondensation reaction of terephthaldehyde, m-xylylene diamine, and tris (2-aminoethyl) amine. The material exhibited superior mechanical properties, thermal stability, rheology, welding property, and recyclability. More interestingly, the ACAT vitrimer also demonstrated a unique photothermal conversion property. Compared with traditional hot-pressing method, the photoinduced shape memory behavior of the ACAT-vitrimer was much more controllable and efficient. Additionally, the ACAT-vitrimer exhibited accelerated photohealing/welding and complete destructing behaviors under the irradiation of near-infrared (NIR) light, which was reported for the first time as a kind of imine-based vitrimer. Such easy fabrication strategy combining dynamic covalent chemistry with a spatiotemporally controllable photothermal effect provided an efficient approach to convert the conventional imine-type vitrimer into stimulus-responsive materials for broader applications.