A high-strength and healable shape memory supramolecular polymer based on pyrene-naphthalene diimide complexes

Dynamic interaction plays an important role in the design of smart materials, but how to utilize it to realize multifunction without sacrificing performance is also pursued goal. Herein, we report a shape memory network (PTMEG-Py@PEA-NDI) with excellent healability and high-strength by simply blending flexible poly(tetramethylene ether glycol) (PTMEG) and polyether amine (PEA), which contained the complementary recognized groups π-electron-rich pyrene (Py) and π-electron-poor naphthalene diimide (NDI), respectively. The existence of CT interactions between NDI and Py was confirmed by color change, UV–vis spectrum and fluorescence spectrum , and its reversibility can be driven by changing the temperature. Tuning the CT interactions between two precursors by varying the Py content, the mechanical properties of supramolecular polymer can increase from 2.8 MPa to 34.5 MPa. All the samples present excellent shape memory properties with high R f (98%) and R r (98%). And the highest self-healing efficiency (95%) was achieved in the sample PTMEG-Py 0.25 @PEA-NDI which own relative low crosslinking degree.