Issue 10/2019 - Breakthrough in the development of "living" self-healing materials

Recently, the team of You Zhengwei, the Key National Laboratory of Fiber Material Modification of Donghua University, developed a "living" self-healing material
.
After injury, this new type of material can heal itself like skin, restore its original structure and function, which can extend the service life of the material, improve the safety of the use of the material, and reduce the maintenance cost of
the material.

The researchers proposed a molecular strategy that can simultaneously improve the self-healing properties and mechanical properties of the material - an elastomer
based on copper coordination butanedione oxime.
The elastomer based on copper coordination butanedione oxime can spontaneously heal at room temperature, and the instant self-healing strength can reach 1.
84MPa, and continues to increase to 13.
8MPa, exceeding the original strength
of all similar materials.
The researchers used the material to composite liquid metal to build a highly tensile self-healing wire
.
The cut wire can basically heal in 9 minutes at room temperature, and can still keep the circuit on when stretched 2.
5 times, showing the good application prospects
of this self-healing material in the field of stretchable electronics.
In addition, the raw materials used in the synthesis of elastomers based on copper coordination butanedione oxime are readily available industrial products, and the reaction adopts the "one-pot method", which is simple and easy to implement, which is very conducive to large-scale use
.