High-Performance pH-Switchable Supramolecular Thermosets via Cation-π Interactions

Guanjun Chang; Li Yang; Junxiao Yang; Mark P Stoykovich; Xu Deng; Jiaxi Cui; Dapeng Wang

doi:10.1002/adma.201704234

High-Performance pH-Switchable Supramolecular Thermosets via Cation-π Interactions

Adv Mater. 2018 Feb;30(7). doi: 10.1002/adma.201704234. Epub 2018 Jan 5.

Authors

Guanjun Chang¹, Li Yang¹, Junxiao Yang¹, Mark P Stoykovich², Xu Deng³, Jiaxi Cui^{3

4}, Dapeng Wang^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Friendly Energy Materials & School of Material Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, P. R. China.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
³ Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P. R. China.
⁴ INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, D-66123, Germany.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, P. R. China.

PMID: 29315882
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704234

Abstract

Supramolecular chemistry has provided versatile and affordable solutions for the design of intelligent soft materials, but it cannot be applied in stiff materials. This paper describes a new concept for the design of high-performance supramolecular thermosets by using the noncovalent cation-π interaction as cross-linking. These supramolecular thermosets are a class of infusible and insoluble stiff polymers having excellent mechanical properties even at temperatures exceeding 300 °C. The cation-π interaction can be locally and reversibly installed and removed by aqueous treatments at high or low pH, respectively. Local manipulation of cross-linking confers these thermosets with multiple stimuli-responsive functions, such as recyclability, healability, adhesion, and nondestructive detection of cross-linking and mechanical properties.

Keywords: cation-π interactions; high-performance polymers; recyclability; thermosets.