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Synthesis and Characterization of Self-Healing Materials

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 1360

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB), National Research Council, P.le Enrico Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: self-healing; epoxy resin; liquid crystalline polymers; thermosets; composites; cultural heritage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Living organisms heal wounds and damage by generating new tissue to replace damaged organs and restore original function. Although synthetic materials are far from possessing this hyper-efficient repair mechanism, the concept of self-healing is gaining momentum in the scientific literature to describe a plethora of man-made materials including metals, ceramics and polymers, used in emerging technological fields.

In this context, self-healing (SH) materials are synthetic substances capable of repairing damage without external input of virgin/repair material. The SH mechanism is activated either autonomously or by external triggering (heat or radiation) using "resources" built into the material formulation as healing agents or reversible chemical bonds. Undoubtedly, polymer science is the field experiencing the fastest growth of self-healing applications, with the publication rate of scientific papers increasing exponentially.

Pushed by the increasing concern about disposal or and recycling of industrial and municipal waste, the intrinsic ability of self-healing polymers to be easily recycled, reworked and repaired has stimulated the research of new materials and applications in the field of coatings, composites and biomaterials, just to name a few.

Nonetheless, significant efforts are still needed to increase the technology readiness levels (TRL) of self-healing materials and application and to establish unambiguous definitions and evaluation criteria.

This Special Issue aims to promote the research and application of self-healing polymers and contribute to the development of reusable, recyclable and more durable engineering materials, with a reduced environmental footprint and which are suitable for promoting the transition towards a circular economy business model.

Dr. Eugenio Amendola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • self-healing
  • epoxy resins
  • vitrimers
  • multiple healing
  • recycling
  • reworking
  • covalent adaptive networks (cans)
  • composites

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 3575 KiB  
Article
Self-Healable and Reprocessable Silicon Elastomers Based on Imine–Boroxine Bonds for Flexible Strain Sensor
by Peng Wang, Zhuochao Wang, Lu Liu, Guobing Ying, Wenxin Cao and Jiaqi Zhu
Molecules 2023, 28(16), 6049; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28166049 - 14 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1073
Abstract
Silicon elastomers with excellent self-healing and reprocessing abilities are highly desirable for the advancement of next-generation energy, electronic, and robotic applications. In this study, a dual cross-linked self-healing polysiloxane elastomer was facilely fabricated by introducing an exchangeable imine bond and boroxine into polydimethylsiloxane [...] Read more.
Silicon elastomers with excellent self-healing and reprocessing abilities are highly desirable for the advancement of next-generation energy, electronic, and robotic applications. In this study, a dual cross-linked self-healing polysiloxane elastomer was facilely fabricated by introducing an exchangeable imine bond and boroxine into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) networks. The PDMS elastomers exhibited excellent self-healing properties due to the synergistic effect of dynamic reversible imine bonds and boroxine. After healing for 2 h, the mechanical strength of the damaged elastomers completely and rapidly recovered at room temperature. Furthermore, the prepared PDMS elastomers could be repeatedly reprocessed multiple times under milder conditions without significant degradation in mechanical performance. In addition, a stretchable and self-healable electrical sensor was developed by integrating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with the PDMS elastomer, which can be employed to monitor multifarious human motions in real time. Therefore, this work provides a new inspiration for preparing self-healable and reprocessable silicone elastomers for future flexible electronics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis and Characterization of Self-Healing Materials)
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