Multivalent H-bonds for self-healing hydrogels

摘要

UPy is used as a reversible and dynamic crosslinker to prepare hydrogels that are injectable and undergo rapid self-healing in response to damage.Self-healing materials possess the ability to repair themselves in response to damage leading to a new route towards safer, longer-lasting products.1 Self-healing mechanisms in bulk polymer materials are either based on the release of repair agents upon damage,1 or on the inclusion of latent molecular functionalities in the polymer structure that trigger repair via thermally reversible reactions, hydrogen bonding, ionomeric arrangements, or molecular diffusion and entanglement.