Planting carbon nanotubes onto supramolecular polymer matrices for waterproof non-contact self-healing?

Nanoscale Pub Date: 2018-12-06 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR07158F

Abstract

Supramolecular polymers show unique and excellent properties due to the reversible and designable nature of the non-covalent interactions. Herein, ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy)-based supramolecular polymers were employed to fabricate the thermo-responsive composite materials with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by planting the MWCNTs onto the supramolecular polymer matrices via a simple surface spraying procedure. The MWCNTs coating on the surface of the supramolecular polymer matrices gave the composite film superhydrophobic and conductive properties, and it had a non-contact healable ability underwater under 808 nm near-infrared light (NIR) irradiation. Moreover, the UPy-based supramolecular polymers acted as thermo-responsive matrices to guarantee the self-healing properties at a relatively low temperature, such as body temperature (33 °C–34 °C). The supramolecular polymer/MWCNTs composite materials exhibited excellent strain sensitivities and could be used to prepare human motion-monitoring devices. This line of research may find a promising practical application in healable wearable devices used in underwater environments.

Graphical abstract: Planting carbon nanotubes onto supramolecular polymer matrices for waterproof non-contact self-healing
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