Scientists develop self-healing elastomer for flexible electronics

Phys.org  September 18, 2023 The mechanical properties of the substrate elastomers are often poor due to the inherent performance of the materials. Researchers in China prepared a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based self-healing material with high strength and good thermal stability by side-linked grafting modification of PVA with a one-step esterification reaction. Benefiting from the hydrogen bonds and ion coordination between iron ions and carboxyl groups, the synthesized elastomer exhibited excellent mechanical properties and good self-healing performance. The high sensitivity and self-healing performance of a silver nanowire-coated elastomer strain sensor demonstrated the wide potential applicability of the prepared PVA-based elastomers in health […]

Engineers develop flexible, self-healing material to protect steel from the elements

Phys.org  October 22, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – Rice University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, SUNY Buffalo, George Washington University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Canada) has designed a lightweight sulfur–selenium (S–Se) alloy with high stiffness and ductility that can serve as an excellent corrosion-resistant coating with protection efficiency of ≈99.9% for steel in a wide range of diverse environments. S–Se coated mild steel showed a corrosion rate that is 6–7 orders of magnitude lower than bare metal in abiotic (simulated seawater and sodium sulfate solution) and biotic (sulfate-reducing bacterial medium) environments. The coating is strongly adhesive, […]