The Deeply Understanding of the Self‐Healing Mechanism for Self‐Healing Behavior of Supramolecular Materials Based on Cyclodextrin–Guest Interactions

• Published in: Macromolecular chemistry and physics 2017-05, Vol.218 (10), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Guo, Kun, Lin, Mu‐Song, Feng, Jun‐Feng, Pan, Min, Ding, Li‐Sheng, Li, Bang‐Jing, Zhang, Sheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: association constants; Cyclodextrins; Host-guest materials; host–guest interactions; mechanism; Moisture content; polymer chain mobility; Self healing materials; self‐healing
• ISSN: 1022-1352; 1521-3935
• DOI: 10.1002/macp.201600593

Cyclodextrin (CD)‐based host–guest interactions are one of the important supramolecular interactions and have been playing significant role in the design of self‐healing materials due to high selectivity and dynamic equilibrium. However, a deeper understanding of the self‐healing mechanism is still rare, although self‐healing materials based on CD–guest interactions have many advantages. This study provides a first step for the fundamental understanding of the influence factors on self‐healing behavior of materials containing CD–guest complexes. It is found that the healing motifs are CD–guest interactions. Sufficient polymer chains mobility, a small amount of water, and high inclusion constant (K) of host–guest interactions are also essential to the self‐healing process. The threshold of K value is around 102 M−1. The cyclodextrin–guest interactions as healing motif play a key role for the self‐healing. Sufficient polymer chains mobility, a small amount of water, and the inclusion constant of host–guest interactions are essential to the self‐healing process.