Ran Wei,Chuanjiang Zhou,Sijia Yang,Wei Sun,Shengjie Liu,Zhaoqiang Wu,Hong Chen
Owing to their high strength and high toughness, ionically conductive elastomers have wide application prospects in artificial muscle materials, lithium-ion batteries and other fields. In this work, on the basis of a polymerizable deep eutectic solvent (DES) prepared from acrylic acid (AA) and choline chloride (ChCl) and N-(2-hydroxyethyl) acrylamide (HEAA) monomers, a high-strength and high-toughness ionic conductive elastomer P(DES–HEAA) was successfully prepared via one-step photopolymerization without the use of any chemical crosslinking agents. The elastomer not only has excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength: 15.59 MPa, tensile strain: 521%, Young's modulus: 652.3 MPa, toughness: 56.2 MJ m−3) but also has high transparency, satisfactory conductivity, good shape memory and excellent anticutting and wear resistance. Owing to the simple and fast preparation process (light irradiation for 10 min) and the excellent properties of the obtained elastomers, this study provides a novel and effective strategy for the development of high-strength, high-toughness, and damage-resistant ionic conductive elastomers.
Many soft animals like starfish have developed armors to protect their soft bodies in order to survive in harsh environment. Inspired by this fact, special hydrogels with self-growing protective armors are developed by allowing sodium acetate to crystallize on hydrogel surface. Poly(acrylic acid) chains limit the crystalline region to the surface of the hydrogel by decreasing the pH value and limiting the movement of ions, and then creating a set of tough armor. This armor-protected hydrogel is able to withstand a high pressure (> 78 MPa) under cutting and prevent the penetration of sharp objects. Interestingly, the unique stimulated-precipitation mechanism allows the armor to repair itself after damage. Besides, the surface of hydrogel changes from “sticky” to “slippery”, which also helps to improve its protective ability. Moreover, the armor helps to retrain water in hydrogel network, and significantly improve the mechanical properties of hydrogels (maximum compressive stress >18 MPa, compressive strain > 90%). In addition, the hydrogel can keep soft and work durably at extreme temperatures (−50 °C and 80 °C) due to the high salt concentration. This study provides an innovative approach for designing armor-protected hydrogels with great potential in engineering applications such as actuators and sensors for harsh environments.
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）