Synergistic Hydrogen Bonding Topology Enables Ultra‐Robust Recyclable Polyurethane Elastomers for Multifunctional Strain Sensors
There has long been a trade-off between mechanical strength and toughness in polyurethane (PU) elastomers. This limitation arises from stress concentration and inefficient energy dissipation within the rigid domains. Therefore, a gradient hydrogen bonding topology strategy is proposed that constructs hierarchical crosslinked networks incorporating both strong (urea-based) and weak (ester-based) hydrogen bonds. By precisely controlling these bonds, an optimized polyurethane elastomer (SPU<sub>0.5</sub>, where 0.5 denotes the crosslinking density parameter) is achieved with a tensile strength of 27.4 MPa-2.5 times higher than that of systems dominated by weak hydrogen bonds-alongside exceptional toughness (188.1 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>) and fracture energy (115.8 kJ m<sup>-2</sup>). These values surpass those of most previously reported PU elastomers and even exceed the toughness of natural spider silk (100-160 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>). The dynamic nature of the weak hydrogen bonds enables rapid self-healing (100% recovery after 24 h at 80 °C) and excellent recyclability (less than 5% performance loss after five cycles), while the strong hydrogen bonds maintain structural integrity. Notably, integrating silver-coated SPU<sub>0.5</sub> into wearable sensors enables real-time monitoring of limb movements, facial expressions, and voice recognition, providing the way of health monitoring. This work offers insights into designing mechanically adaptive polymers through hierarchical-level engineering.
Authors
- Lixue Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0877-3396)
- Danzhen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4044-0310)
- X. Zhang
- Zhiqiang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0452-8748)
- Chunhua Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9903-9823)
- Daming Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7472-7278)
Institutions
- Liaoning University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-06-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202504828
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Polymer composites and self-healing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.43