Phys.org August 8, 2022
Previous studies using photothermal dyes were mainly based on inorganic materials that are difficult to apply industrially as the coating material should be transparent. In addition, inorganic materials require a large amount of light energy to produce a photothermal effect. Researchers in South Korea developed a new material by adding a dynamic chemical bond that can repeat the decomposition and recombination of the polymer structure and mixed it with a transparent photothermal dye that can absorb near-infrared light which accounts for less than 10% of midday sunlight. This circumvents excessive increase of the vehicle surface temperature. When a surface treated with the material is exposed to sunlight its temperature rises as light energy is converted into thermal energy making it possible to self-heal a surface scratch by repeating the dissociation and recombination of chemical bonds in the polymer structure. The material does not affect the product color due to inherent colorlessness, easily blends with paints, and it is inexpensive. In demonstrations the scratches healed in approximately 30 minutes when exposed to midday sunlight… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Abstract. Credit: ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2022, 4, 5, 3802–3810, April 1, 2022Â