Development of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-Based Polyurethane with Water-Thermal Response Shape-Memory Behavior as New 3D Elastomers Scaffolds.

Cai Wang,Yiping Wang,Han Wang,Faxing Zou,Shaojun Chen

doi:10.3390/polym11061030

Abstract

In this study, we report the synthesis of a novel bio-based material from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) with good shape-memory effect (SME) and rapid recovery. In this PHA-based polyurethane (PHP), telechelic-hydroxylated polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA-diols) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were used as soft segments, providing thermo-responsive domains and water-responsive regions, respectively. Thus, PHP possesses good thermal-responsive SME, such as high shape fixing (>99%) and shape recovery ratio (>90%). Upon immersing in water, the storage modulus of PHP decreased considerably owing to disruption of hydrogen bonds in the PHP matrix. Their water-responsive SME is also suitable for rapid shape recovery (less than 10 s). Furthermore, these outstanding properties can trigger shape-morphing, enabling self-folding and self-expansion of shapes into three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds for potential biomedical applications.

Highlights

As one of the most promising intelligent materials, shape-memory polymers (SMPs) can stabilize their temporary shape and return to their original shape when exposed to external stimuli such as heat, light, pH, and magnetism [1,2,3,4,5]
There was no peak at 1722 cm−1 in polyethylene glycol (PEG)–HDI, which is consistent with the FT-IR results
This study reports the synthesis and characterizations of bio-based shape-memory polyurethane with dual-responsive shape-memory effect (SME) from PHA

Summary

Introduction

As one of the most promising intelligent materials, shape-memory polymers (SMPs) can stabilize their temporary shape and return to their original shape when exposed to external stimuli such as heat, light, pH, and magnetism [1,2,3,4,5]. Traditional SMPs are thermo-responsive polymers, the shapes of which are deformed at high temperature, usually above the glass transition (Tg ) or crystal melting temperature (Tm ), and subsequently frozen to a temporary shape at low temperature [9,10]. Thermo-responsive SMPs can be used in most of the above applications as their shape recovery is generally triggered by heating above a transition temperature. If the temporary shape is complex or the operation environment is not suitable for direct contact, the commonly used deformation method cannot be optimally used, which considerably restricts the potential applications of SMPs. Polymers 2019, 11, 1030; doi:10.3390/polym11061030 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers

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