Issue 16, 2024

Rapid self-healing and superior toughness in ionically crosslinked polymer ionogels and strain sensing applications

Abstract

Self-healing polymeric ionogel/hydrogel materials are mostly viscoelastic and lack high mechanical toughness; however, simultaneous rapid self-healing and robust mechanical properties are essential for various applications. Herein, an ionically crosslinked polymer ionogel comprising poly(vinylimidazol) [PVIM] and polyphosphoric acid [PPA] having a dual interpenetrating network of ionic and hydrogen bonding interactions is reported. The designed ionogel PVIM–PPA shows rapid and repeatable self-healing within a few seconds without any external stimulus, realizes exceptional mechanical properties such as high tensile strength (30 ± 1 MPa), superior toughness (43.3 ± 0.5 MJ m−3), and fracture energy (4100 J m−2) with ∼90% of healing efficiency and possesses intrinsic flexibility, transparency, and fire-resistant properties. In addition, the mechanical and self-healing properties of the polymer were also investigated by incorporating Ca-ions into the PVIM–PPA ionogels. The PVIM–PPA–Ca ionogel shows an enhancement of the tensile strength to 39 ± 1 MPa and fracture energy of 4700 J m−2 with ≥87% self-healing efficiency. The ionic conductivity of the PVIM–PPA–Ca polymer membrane increases almost five times (5.93 × 10−5 S cm−1) w.r.t PVIM–PPA (1.25 × 10−5 S cm−1) and it can retain ∼90% of the conductivity after self-healing. The recovery efficiency remains almost constant from the second cycle up to the sixth subsequent failure–recovery cycle for these ionogels. Furthermore, a wearable strain sensor was designed using the designed ionogels to detect various human motions accurately and reliably.

Graphical abstract: Rapid self-healing and superior toughness in ionically crosslinked polymer ionogels and strain sensing applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 11 2023
Accepted
10 3 2024
First published
12 3 2024

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 9508-9517

Rapid self-healing and superior toughness in ionically crosslinked polymer ionogels and strain sensing applications

A. K. Padhan, D. Sharma, T. S. Thomas, A. P. Sinha, A. N. Mallick and D. Mandal, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 9508 DOI: 10.1039/D3TA07277K

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