title: Surface-initiated self-healing of polymers in aqueous media.
abstract: Polymeric materials that intrinsically heal at damage sites under wet or moist conditions are urgently needed for biomedical and environmental applications. Although hydrogels with self-mending properties have been engineered by means of mussel-inspired metal-chelating catechol-functionalized polymer networks, biological self-healing in wet conditions, as occurs in self-assembled holdfast proteins in mussels and other marine organisms, is generally thought to involve more than reversible metal chelates. Here we demonstrate self-mending in metal-free water of synthetic polyacrylate and polymethacrylate materials that are surface-functionalized with mussel-inspired catechols. Wet self-mending of scission in these polymers is initiated and accelerated by hydrogen bonding between interfacial catechol moieties, and consolidated by the recruitment of other non-covalent interactions contributed by subsurface moieties. The repaired and pristine samples show similar mechanical properties, suggesting that the triggering of complete self-healing is enabled underwater by the formation of extensive catechol-mediated interfacial hydrogen bonds.
authors: Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors: B Kollbe
authors: BK
authors: Ahn
authors: Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors: Dong Woog
authors: DW
authors: Lee
authors: Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors: Jacob N
authors: JN
authors: Israelachvili
authors: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors: J Herbert
authors: JH
authors: Waite
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002396:Catechols / Q000737:chemistry; D011109:Polymethacrylic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D002396:Catechols; D011109:Polymethacrylic Acids; D014867:Water; C030613:polymethacrylic acid; C006903:carbopol 940; C034221:catechol