Photothermal and magnetocaloric-stimulated shape memory and self-healing via magnetic polymeric composite with dynamic crosslinking

Abstract

Multiple-stimulated shape-memory and self-healing materials can be employed in some covert circumstances and special system because of the flexible control manners, which shows great potential in practical application. In this work, Fe3O4 grafted copolymer, Fe3O4-g-P(TMA-co-LA-co-VI), with magnetic, near-infrared light and thermo multiple-stimulated shape memory and self-healing performance, was synthesized, where tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate (TMA), lauryl acrylate (LA) and 1-vinylimidazole (VI) were biomass derived monomers. Dynamic metal-ligand network in Fe3O4-g-P(TMA-co-LA-co-VI)/Zn was subsequently constructed via the coordination of VI and zinc ion. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposite could be simply regulated by varying the Fe3O4 content and the molar ratio of monomers. Among all the samples, Fe3O4-g-P(TMA-co-LA-co-VI)/Zn with Fe3O4 content of 1 wt % and TMA/LA/VI molar ratio of 8/2/2.5 showed a breaking stain of 300% and a maximum stress of 1.66 MPa, which also showed an excellent thermo stimulated shape memory and self-healing performance. As the Fe3O4 nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the nanocomposites, their photothermal and magnetocaloric transformation can efficiently stimulate the dynamic and reversible metal-ligand crosslinked process between VI and Zn2+. Therefore, this kind of effective stimulation can finally lead to excellent remote-controllable shape memory and self-healing performance. The integration of magnetic, near-infrared light and thermo multiple-stimulation for shape memory and self-healing also augurs well for their wide application potential in artificial intelligence materials and life science.