Ethyl cellulose based self-healing adhesives synthesized via RAFT and aromatic schiff-base chemistry

Xuanang Gong; Zenghui Cheng; Shishuai Gao; Daihui Zhang; Yufeng Ma; Jifu Wang; Chunpeng Wang; Fuxiang Chu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116846

Ethyl cellulose based self-healing adhesives synthesized via RAFT and aromatic schiff-base chemistry

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Dec 15:250:116846. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116846. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

Authors

Xuanang Gong¹, Zenghui Cheng², Shishuai Gao², Daihui Zhang³, Yufeng Ma⁴, Jifu Wang², Chunpeng Wang², Fuxiang Chu²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering of Forest Products, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, 210042, Jiangsu, China; College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China.
² Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering of Forest Products, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, 210042, Jiangsu, China; Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China.
³ Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering of Forest Products, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, 210042, Jiangsu, China; Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: zdh0824@163.com.
⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China; Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: mayufeng@njfu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33049809
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116846

Abstract

In this work, reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and Schiff base chemistry was combined to fabricate self-healing adhesives. An esterification reaction was first performed to prepare ethyl cellulose based macroinitiators. Then, a "grafting from" RAFT of vanillin methacrylate and lauryl methacrylate was used to obtain graft copolymers. DSC result showed that the glass transition temperature was manipulated via changing the ratio of vanillin and fatty acids moieties. NMR spectrum analysis demonstrated the presence of aldehyde groups, which were available for the dynamic crosslinking to generate a network as self-healing adhesives. The adhesive test showed that the shear strength could reach 0.81 MPa with a self-healing efficiency of 98.7 %. The bottlebrush structures of copolymers and reversibility of Schiff base chemistry might collaboratively contribute to the high self-healing efficiency. This study provides a facile way to fabricate high-performance self-healing adhesives from ethyl cellulose and renewable resources.

Keywords: Adhesives; Ethyl cellulose; Schiff base; Self-Healing; Vanillin.