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Self-healing Polymeric Hydrogels: Toward Multifunctional Soft Smart Materials

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Abstract

The concept of self-healing that involves a built-in ability to heal in response to damage wherever and whenever it occurs in a material, analogous to the healing process in living organisms, has emerged a couple of decades ago. Driven primarily by the demands for life-like materials and soft smart materials, therefore, the development of self-healing polymeric hydrogels has continually attracted the attention of the scientific community. Here, this review is intended to give an in-depth overview of the state-of-the-art advances in the field of self-healing polymeric hydrogels. Specifically, recently emerging trends in self-healing polymeric hydrogels are summarized, and notably, recommendations to endow these hydrogels with fascinating multi-functionalities including luminescence, conductivity/magnetism and shape memory etc. are presented. To close, the current challenges and future opportunities in this field are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51773215, 21774138), the Sino-German Mobility Programme (No. M-0424), Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. QYZDB-SSW-SLH036), and Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2019297). Xiaoling Zuo is grateful for the financial supported by Science and Technology Fund of Guizhou Province, China (No. [2020]1Y209), the Overseas Talents Selection Fund of Guizhou Province, China (No. [2020]11) and Fund Project of Guizhou Minzu University, China (No. GZMU[2019]YB23).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Xiao-Ling Zuo & Shao-Fan Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Polymeric Materials Technology and Application of Zhejiang Province, Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, China

    Xiao-Ling Zuo, Xiao-Xia Le, Wei Lu & Tao Chen

  3. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiao-Xia Le, Wei Lu & Tao Chen

Authors
  1. Xiao-Ling Zuo
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  2. Shao-Fan Wang
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  3. Xiao-Xia Le
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  4. Wei Lu
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  5. Tao Chen
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Correspondence to Wei Lu or Tao Chen.

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Biography

Wei Lu received his PhD degree in polymer chemistry and physics from Zhejiang University in China (2014). Soon afterwards he joined Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017 and Professor in 2020. His current research is focused on the fabrication of multifunctional fluorescent polymeric materials for applications in chemical sensing and biomimetic actuators.

Tao Chen received his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry and physics from Zhejiang University in 2006. After his postdoctoral training at the University of Warwick (UK), he joined Duke University (USA) as a research scientist. He then moved back to Europe as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany). Since 2012, he is a full-time professor at Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He leads a smart polymeric materials group working on actuator, shape memory, and sensing.

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Zuo, XL., Wang, SF., Le, XX. et al. Self-healing Polymeric Hydrogels: Toward Multifunctional Soft Smart Materials. Chin J Polym Sci 39, 1262–1280 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2612-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2612-1

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