Organic montmorillonite and doped polyaniline-enhanced self-healing polydimethylsiloxane

Abstract: Self-healing elastomer materials were successfully synthesized from ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy)-modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mixing with organic montmorillonite (OMMT) and C22 alkyl toluene sulfonic acid (ATS)-doped polyaniline (PANI-ATS) in this work. The structure, thermal properties, and self-healing properties were investigated. The results demonstrated that hydrogen bonds formed in the self-healing elastomer materials and they exhibited good thermal property and self-healing at both macro and micro levels. The strength after healing was up to 0.8 MPa, three times bigger than the original PDMS. OMMT and PANI-ATS works together to enhance PDMS without damaging its self-healing ability, thus extending the application scope of PDMS. Graphic abstract: <fig id="Figa" position="anchor"> <graphic position="anchor" specific-use="HTML" mime-subtype="PNG" href="MediaObjects/43578_2021_122_Figa_HTML.png" id="MO1"></graphic> </fig>