Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5): 757-762.doi: 10.1007/s40242-023-3118-x

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Visible Light-driven Self-healable Mechanochromic Polyurethanes

HAN Jinpeng1, YUAN Yuan1, CHEN Yulan1,2   

  1. 1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Science, Department of Chemistry, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, P. R. China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China
  • Received:2023-05-10 Online:2023-10-01 Published:2023-09-26
  • Contact: YUAN Yuan, CHEN Yulan E-mail:yyuan@tju.edu.cn;yulanchen@jlu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.21734006, 21975178 and 22275068), the Open Project of the State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2022YFF1202902).

Abstract: Polyurethanes incorporating spiropyran (SP) and diselenide (DiSe) in the main chain, which are confined in different hard segments are developed. Visible light-driven diselenide metathesis and mechanically induced ring opening of SP offer self-healing and mechanochromic properties of the polymers, respectively. Delicate selection of the polymer backbone is found essential to promote the dual functions. In particular for polyurethane with SP coupled into 4,4'-methylenebis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) and DiSe linked with isophorone diisocyanate, excellent mechanical, mechanochromic and self-healing properties are estimated. Moreover, combining self-healing and self-reporting moieties in one chain allows the discrimination of different healing mechanisms, including bond formation and chain entanglement, in a visualized way.

Key words: Self-healing, Self-reporting, Polyurethane, Mechano-chromic, Diselenide