Shi Jiaxin, Zheng Tianze, Wang Zhiqi, Wang Pujin, Yang Hongkun, Guo Jinjing, Wang Dong, Guo Baohua, Xu Jun
Advanced Materials Laboratory of Ministry of Education (MOE), Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites & Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
Mater Horiz. 2024 Sep 30;11(19):4747-4758. doi: 10.1039/d4mh00648h.
Elastomers with high strength and toughness are in great demand. Previous research on elastomers focused mainly on the design of new chemical structures, but their complicated synthesis process and expensive monomers have restricted the practical application of these materials. Inspired by general filler effects, a strategy is proposed to remarkably enhance the mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomers by designing the arrangement of hard/soft segments using traditional chemical compositions. By utilizing the synergetic effect of weak hard segments, normal TPU elastomers are upgraded into advanced elastomers. Combining experiments and simulations, it is demonstrated that a suitable sequence length can achieve considerably enhanced strength and toughness by maximizing the relative surface area of hard domains. Mixing the obtained elastomer with an ionic liquid can result in a durable ionogel sensor with balanced mechanical strength and ionic conductivity. This easy-to-implement strategy offers a new dimension for the development of high-performance elastomers.
高强度和高韧性的弹性体需求量很大。以往对弹性体的研究主要集中在新化学结构的设计上，但其复杂的合成过程和昂贵的单体限制了这些材料的实际应用。受一般填料效应的启发，提出了一种策略，即通过使用传统化学成分设计硬/软段的排列来显著提高热塑性聚氨酯（TPU）弹性体的机械性能。通过利用弱硬段的协同效应，普通TPU弹性体被升级为先进弹性体。结合实验和模拟结果表明，合适的序列长度可以通过最大化硬域的相对表面积来显著提高强度和韧性。将所得弹性体与离子液体混合可得到具有平衡机械强度和离子电导率的耐用离子凝胶传感器。这种易于实施的策略为高性能弹性体的开发提供了新的思路。
