Self-Healing Polycaprolactone Networks through Thermo-Induced Reversible Disulfide Bond Formation

Abstract

Polycaprolactone (PCL) networks with disulfide bonds are synthesized through a thiol-ene "click" reaction. The PCL networks have various functional properties, including self-healing, shape memory, reprocessability, and degradability. Pronouncedly, a healing efficiency of 92% on the yield strength of the PCL network is obtained after heating for 1 h at 60 °C. Meanwhile, the PCL networks show shape memory property with fixing ratio (R _f ) and recovery ratio (R _r ) at 98% and 95%, respectively. The PCL network still retains good mechanical properties after reprocessing cycles and can be fast-decomposed through a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction.

Keywords: degradability; disulfide bonds; polycaprolactone; reprocessability; self-healing.