Development of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-Based Polyurethane with Water-Thermal Response Shape-Memory Behavior as New 3D Elastomers Scaffolds

Cai Wang; Han Wang; Faxing Zou; Shaojun Chen; Yiping Wang

doi:10.3390/polym11061030

Development of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-Based Polyurethane with Water-Thermal Response Shape-Memory Behavior as New 3D Elastomers Scaffolds

Polymers (Basel). 2019 Jun 11;11(6):1030. doi: 10.3390/polym11061030.

Authors

Cai Wang^{1

2}, Han Wang³, Faxing Zou⁴, Shaojun Chen⁵, Yiping Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. whxtbh@163.com.
² Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. whxtbh@163.com.
³ Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. esmee_wang@163.com.
⁴ Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. 2160120419@email.szu.edu.cn.
⁵ Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. chensj@szu.edu.cn.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. ypwang@szu.edu.cn.

Abstract

In this study, we report the synthesis of a novel bio-based material from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) with good shape-memory effect (SME) and rapid recovery. In this PHA-based polyurethane (PHP), telechelic-hydroxylated polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA-diols) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were used as soft segments, providing thermo-responsive domains and water-responsive regions, respectively. Thus, PHP possesses good thermal-responsive SME, such as high shape fixing (>99%) and shape recovery ratio (>90%). Upon immersing in water, the storage modulus of PHP decreased considerably owing to disruption of hydrogen bonds in the PHP matrix. Their water-responsive SME is also suitable for rapid shape recovery (less than 10 s). Furthermore, these outstanding properties can trigger shape-morphing, enabling self-folding and self-expansion of shapes into three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds for potential biomedical applications.

Keywords: polyhydroxyalkanoate; polyurethane; scaffolds; shape-memory; water-thermal responsive.