A fluorine-based strong and healable elastomer with unprecedented puncture resistance for high performance flexible electronics

Yujie Jia; Qingbao Guan; Chengzhen Chu; Luzhi Zhang; Rasoul Esmaeely Neisiany; Shijia Gu; Junfen Sun; Zhengwei You

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2024.03.047

A fluorine-based strong and healable elastomer with unprecedented puncture resistance for high performance flexible electronics

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2024 Mar 26:S2095-9273(24)00203-2. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.03.047. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yujie Jia¹, Qingbao Guan¹, Chengzhen Chu¹, Luzhi Zhang¹, Rasoul Esmaeely Neisiany², Shijia Gu¹, Junfen Sun³, Zhengwei You⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Institute of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Base of Textile Materials for Flexible Electronics and Biomedical Applications (China Textile Engineering Society), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Nano-Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
² Biotechnology Centre, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice 44-100, Poland; Department of Polymer Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar 9617976487, Iran.
³ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Institute of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Base of Textile Materials for Flexible Electronics and Biomedical Applications (China Textile Engineering Society), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Nano-Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. Electronic address: junfensun@dhu.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Institute of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Base of Textile Materials for Flexible Electronics and Biomedical Applications (China Textile Engineering Society), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Nano-Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. Electronic address: zyou@dhu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38616151
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.03.047

Abstract

There is usually a trade-off between high mechanical strength and dynamic self-healing because the mechanisms of these properties are mutually exclusive. Herein, we design and fabricate a fluorinated phenolic polyurethane (FPPU) elastomer based on octafluoro-4,4'-biphenol to overcome this challenge. This fluorine-based motif not only tunes interchain interactions through π-π stacking between aromatic rings and free-volume among polymer chains but also improves the reversibility of phenol-carbamate bonds via electron-withdrawing effect of fluorine atoms. The developed FPPU elastomer shows the highest recorded puncture energy (648.0 mJ), high tensile strength (27.0 MPa), as well as excellent self-healing efficiency (92.3%), along with low surface energy (50.9 MJ m^-2), notch-insensitivity, and reprocessability compared with non-fluorinated counterpart biphenolic polyurethane (BPPU) elastomer. Taking advantage of the above-mentioned merits of FPPU elastomer, we prepare an anti-fouling triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with a self-healable, and reprocessable elastic substrate. Benefiting from stronger electron affinity of fluorine atoms than hydrogen atoms, this electronic device exhibits ultrahigh peak open-circuit voltage of 302.3 V compared to the TENG fabricated from BPPU elastomer. Furthermore, a healable and stretchable conductive composite is prepared. This research provides a distinct and general pathway toward constructing high-performance elastomers and will enable a series of new applications.

Keywords: Fluorinated elastomer; Phenol-carbamate bonds; Polyurethane; Reprocessable; Self-healing.