Electrically Accelerated Self ‐Healable Polyionic Liquid Copolymers

Electrically accelerated self-healable poly(ionic liquids) copolymers with frequency-dependent parallel resistor-capacitor circuit properties developed in these studies are capable of multiple damage-repair cycles. Self-healing is accelerated by the application of alternating electric fields which induce movement of charges giving rise to interchain physical crosslinks that accelerate the recovery of van der Waals forces facilitating self-healing. AbstractElectrically accelerated self-healable poly(ionic liquids) copolymers that exhibit resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit properties are developed. At low alternating current (AC) frequencies these materials behave as a resistor (R), whereas at higher frequencies as a capacitor (C). These properties are attributed to a combination of dipolar and electrostatic interactions in (1-[(2-methacryloyloxy)ethyl]-3-butylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide) copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomers to form p(MEBIm-TSFI/MMA)] copolymers. When the monomer molar ratio (MEBIm-TSFI:MMA) is 40/60, these copolymers are capable of undergoing multiple damage-repair cycles and self-healing is accelerated by the application of alternating 1.0 –4.0 V electric field (EF). Self-healing in the absence of EFs is facilitated by van der Waals (vdW) interactions, but the application of AC EF induces back and forth movement of charges against the opposing force that result in dithering of electrostatic dipoles giving rise to interchain...
Source: Small - Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Tags: Research Article Source Type: research