Visible light-induced self-healing fluorinated polyurethane-acrylate containing aromatic Schiff base

Light-induced self-healing materials are of great practical value due to their precise local modulation. Aromatic Schiff bases with imine bonds have self-healing property due to their fast dynamic bond exchange properties under visible light. In this paper, we prepared a fluorinated polyurethane-acrylate containing aromatic Schiff base with visible light-induced self-healing ability by Pickering emulsion polymerization. The effect of the aromatic Schiff base content on the particle size of the fluorinated polyurethane-acrylate emulsion, the hydrophobic and oleophobic, mechanical and self-healing properties of the latex films was systematically investigated. The maximum water contact angle and tensile strength of fluorinated polyurethane-acrylate latex film could reach 113.25° and 8.64 MPa, respectively. The tensile strength could be restored to 88.64 % of the original one under visible light irradiation after damage. This work is the first report on visible light-induced self-healing fluorinated polyurethane-acrylate containing aromatic Schiff base, and provides a new design idea for the development of sustainable waterborne polyurethane-acrylate.