Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Materials

En Route To Polymer That Heals Upon Squeezing

Scientists make headway toward damage-responsive material, fabricate polymer that releases acid protons during compression

by Lauren K. Wolf
July 30, 2012 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 90, Issue 31

Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have taken a first step toward making a material that responds directly to being damaged (J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja305645x). Self-healing polymers have been synthesized in the past, but many of those materials use encapsulated reagents or require external stimuli, such as light or heat, to initiate repair. To make the material, the Illinois researchers generated what they call a “mechanophore” from a gem-dichlorocyclopropanated indene flanked by two methacrylate groups. The team then polymerized this mechanophore with methyl acrylate. When squeezed hard enough to simulate pressures above what a roadway bridge might withstand, the mechanophores in the resulting polymeric material rearrange and release protons (shown). Team leader Jeffrey S. Moore says that the next step will be to couple these mechanophores with a polymer that can also undergo acid-catalyzed cross-linking. That way, he adds, the protons generated will initiate localized healing of the material “only in regions of high-stress concentration, where cross-linking is needed most.”

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.