(718g) Super-Stretchable Polymeric Elastomers with Healable Mechanical Property and Recoverable Gas-Separation Functionality

Super-Stretchable Polymeric Elastomers with Healable Mechanical Property and Recoverable Gas-separation Functionality

Peng-Fei Cao,* ^†
a Bingrui Li, ^{† a} Tao Hong,^b
Jacob Townsend,^b Zhe
Qiang,^c Kunyue Xing,^b 
Konstantinos D. Vogiatzis,^b Yangyang Wang,^d Alexei
P. Sokolov,^a,b and Tomonori Saito* ^a

^a Chemical Sciences Division, ^d Center
for Nanophase Materials Sciences,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United
States

^b Department of Chemistry, University of
Tennessee,

Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, United States

^c Department of Chemical and Biological
Engineering, Northwestern University,

Evanston, IL 60208

Polymeric elastomers with
the capability to self-heal and recover the functionalities after
mechanical damage are intriguing materials for a wide range of applications.
Herein, we report a series of urea functionalized poly(dimethyl
siloxane)-based elastomers (U-PDMS-Es) with extremely high stretchability,
self-healing property and recoverable gas-separation performance. Tailoring the
molecular weights of PDMS offers tunable mechanical properties of obtained
U-PDMS-Es, such as elongation (from 984% to 5,600%), Young’s modulus, ultimate
tensile strength and toughness. The U-PDMS-Es can also serve as excellent
acoustic and vibration damping materials over a broad range of temperature
(over 100 °C). After mechanical damage, the U-PDMS-Es can be healed in 60 mins
at ambient temperature or in 20 mins at 40 °C with completely restored
mechanical performance. The U-PDMS-Es were also demonstrated as recoverable
gas-separation functionality with retained permeability/selectivity after the
damage for the first time.