A water-triggered highly self-healable elastomer with enhanced mechanical properties achieved using localized zwitterionic assemblies

In this study, the synthesis of a water-triggered highly self-healable elastomer with excellent optical and mechanical properties through localized zwitterionic assemblies is demonstrated for the first time using a newly proposed blending method. The self-healable elastomer obtained by blending conventional polyol and zwitterionic polyol shows a high transmittance (-92%) and low yellow index value (1.9). The fabricated material with localized zwitterionic clusters shows superior self-healing efficiency (94-100%) under both dry and wet conditions compared with conventional nonionic elastomers (-69%) and ionic elastomers with randomly distributed ions (80-87%). This is attributed to the significantly higher probability of contact between the localized zwitterionic assemblies of this material in the damaged area. More importantly, conventional self-healing materials have obtained the self-healing properties of polymers at the expense of their mechanical properties. An elastomer with localized zwitterions eliminates this trade-off between self-healing and mechanical properties. These properties are attributed to the unique intermolecular network resulting from strong interactions between localized zwitterionic clusters. As a result, the zwitterionic self-healable elastomer, based on the blending system proposed in this study, can maximize its self-healing capabilities and overcome the limitations of conventional self-healing materials via the concentration of zwitterions into a local domain.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the synthesis of a water-triggered highly self-healable elastomer with excellent optical and mechanical properties through localized zwitterionic assemblies using a newly proposed blending method. The elastomer with localized zwitterionic clusters shows superior self-healing efficiency under both dry and wet conditions compared with conventional nonionic elastomers and ionic elastomers with randomly distributed ions. These properties are attributed to the unique intermolecular network resulting from strong interactions between localized zwitterionic clusters.