Bioinspired Thermoplastic Elastomer with Flexible, Self-Healing Capabilities

The self-healing property of biological tissues gives humans inspiration to endow artificial synthetic materials with self-healing functions. Herein, we report a thermoplastic elastomer that can be self-repaired in a short time, which uses dual dynamic bonds (hydrogen bonds and disulfide bonds) coupled to realize its self-healing function through the rapid conversion of dynamic hydrogen bonds between the hard and soft segments, as well as the dynamic bonding and dissociation of disulfide bonds. Furthermore, the maximum tensile strength and strain of the elastomer can reach 17.4 MPa and 3780%, respectively, and the maximum self-healing rate is close to 100% (temperature: 90 degrees C, time: 5 h). The arrays' arrangement and reversibility of hydrogen bonds endow the elastomer with high toughness and self-healing properties and thus solve the problem that ordinary polymers cannot self-heal.