Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability

Most elastomeric vitrimers suffer from mechanical weakness in practical applications. Inspired by the development of strong and tough biomaterials relying on sacrificial bond-detachment mechanisms, herein we describe the biomimetic design of elastomeric vitrimers with mechanical robustness, preserva...

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Main Authors: Siwu Wu, Shifeng Fang, Zhenghai Tang, Fang Liu, Baochun Guo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-07-01
Series:Materials & Design
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127520302902
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author Siwu Wu
Shifeng Fang
Zhenghai Tang
Fang Liu
Baochun Guo
author_facet Siwu Wu
Shifeng Fang
Zhenghai Tang
Fang Liu
Baochun Guo
author_sort Siwu Wu
collection DOAJ
description Most elastomeric vitrimers suffer from mechanical weakness in practical applications. Inspired by the development of strong and tough biomaterials relying on sacrificial bond-detachment mechanisms, herein we describe the biomimetic design of elastomeric vitrimers with mechanical robustness, preservable malleability, and recyclability by engineering sacrificial metal-ligand coordination bonds into exchangeable networks. In particular, we use a commercially available metal complex, aluminum acetylacetonate (Al(acac)3), to catalyze cross-linking based on the silylation reaction between hydroxylated natural rubber and hydrosilanes, thus introducing dynamic silyl ether-based architectures into the rubber matrix. At the same time, the Al3+ ions can interact with the free oxygen-containing moieties on the rubber skeleton, enabling labile Al3+O coordination bonds in the covalent framework to substantially dissipate mechanical energy through reversible bond detachment/reattachment upon deformation. As the organic acetylacetonate ligands of Al(acac)3 can facilitate the dispersion of Al3+ ions in the matrix, incorporating a small amount of organometallic complex (0.68 wt% of elastomer matrix) achieves an unparalleled improvement of the strength, modulus, and toughness of the resulting vitrimers. Moreover, due to their temperature-dependent nature, the Al3+O coordination bonds will partially dissociate at elevated temperatures, which only slightly compromises the topological rearrangements of the silyl ether-based network, but barely affects the reprocessability.
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spelling doaj.art-3cdc94528957439b92869dd4f58ea8f92022-12-22T03:48:20ZengElsevierMaterials & Design0264-12752020-07-01192108756Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleabilitySiwu Wu0Shifeng Fang1Zhenghai Tang2Fang Liu3Baochun Guo4Department of Polymer Materials and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR ChinaDepartment of Polymer Materials and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR ChinaDepartment of Polymer Materials and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR ChinaDepartment of Polymer Materials and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR ChinaCorresponding author.; Department of Polymer Materials and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR ChinaMost elastomeric vitrimers suffer from mechanical weakness in practical applications. Inspired by the development of strong and tough biomaterials relying on sacrificial bond-detachment mechanisms, herein we describe the biomimetic design of elastomeric vitrimers with mechanical robustness, preservable malleability, and recyclability by engineering sacrificial metal-ligand coordination bonds into exchangeable networks. In particular, we use a commercially available metal complex, aluminum acetylacetonate (Al(acac)3), to catalyze cross-linking based on the silylation reaction between hydroxylated natural rubber and hydrosilanes, thus introducing dynamic silyl ether-based architectures into the rubber matrix. At the same time, the Al3+ ions can interact with the free oxygen-containing moieties on the rubber skeleton, enabling labile Al3+O coordination bonds in the covalent framework to substantially dissipate mechanical energy through reversible bond detachment/reattachment upon deformation. As the organic acetylacetonate ligands of Al(acac)3 can facilitate the dispersion of Al3+ ions in the matrix, incorporating a small amount of organometallic complex (0.68 wt% of elastomer matrix) achieves an unparalleled improvement of the strength, modulus, and toughness of the resulting vitrimers. Moreover, due to their temperature-dependent nature, the Al3+O coordination bonds will partially dissociate at elevated temperatures, which only slightly compromises the topological rearrangements of the silyl ether-based network, but barely affects the reprocessability.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127520302902ElastomerVitrimersSilyl etherSacrificial bondsReinforcement
spellingShingle Siwu Wu
Shifeng Fang
Zhenghai Tang
Fang Liu
Baochun Guo
Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
Materials & Design
Elastomer
Vitrimers
Silyl ether
Sacrificial bonds
Reinforcement
title Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
title_full Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
title_fullStr Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
title_full_unstemmed Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
title_short Bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal-ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
title_sort bioinspired design of elastomeric vitrimers with sacrificial metal ligand interactions leading to supramechanical robustness and retentive malleability
topic Elastomer
Vitrimers
Silyl ether
Sacrificial bonds
Reinforcement
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127520302902
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