title: Optimal Reactivity and Improved Self-Healing Capability of Structurally Dynamic Polymers Grafted on Janus Nanoparticles Governed by Chain Stiffness and Spatial Organization.
abstract: Structurally dynamic polymers are recognized as a key potential to revolutionize technologies ranging from design of self-healing materials to numerous biomedical applications. Despite intense research in this area, optimizing reactivity and thereby improving self-healing ability at the most fundamental level pose urgent issue for wider applications of such emerging materials. Here, the authors report the first mechanistic investigation of the fundamental principle for the dependence of reactivity and self-healing capabilities on the properties inherent to dynamic polymers by combining large-scale computer simulation, theoretical analysis, and experimental discussion. The results allow to reveal how chain stiffness and spatial organization regulate reactivity of dynamic polymers grafted on Janus nanoparticles and mechanically mediated reaction in their reverse chemistry, and, particularly, identify that semiflexible dynamic polymers possess the optimal reactivity and self-healing ability. The authors also develop an analytical model of blob theory of polymer chains to complement the simulation results and reveal essential scaling laws for optimal reactivity. The findings offer new insights into the physical mechanism in various systems involving reverse/dynamic chemistry. These studies highlight molecular engineering of polymer architecture and intrinsic property as a versatile strategy in control over the structural responses and functionalities of emerging materials with optimized self-healing capabilities.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guoxi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zihan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Pengyu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tianqi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China.
authors.forename: Xinghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Tang
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Yan
keywords: dynamic bond; self-healing ability; structurally dynamic polymers; supracolloidal reaction; theory and simulation