A Strong, Tough, and Self-Healing Strengthening Thioctic Acid-based Elastomer for Highly Reliable Flexible Strain Sensor.

Elastomers with high strength and toughness, excellent self-healing properties, and biocompatibility have broad application prospects in wearable electronics and other fields, but preparing it remains a challenge. In this work, we propose a highly adaptable strategy by introducing the small molecule crosslinking agent of triethanolamine (TEA) to the poly thioctic acid (PTA) chains and preparing the PAxEy elastomers using a simple synthesis step. This strategy stabilizes the PTA chains by constructing multiple non-covalent cross-linked dynamic networks, endowing materials with excellent strength and toughness (tensile strength of 288 kPa, toughness of 278.2 kJ/m3), admirable self-healing properties (self-healing efficiency of 121.6% within 7 h at 70 °C), and good biocompatibility. The PAxEy elastomers can also be combined with MWNTs to become flexible strain sensors, which can be used to monitor human joint movements with high sensitivity, repeatable responses, and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]