Mechanomutable materials undergo variation in their mechanical properties in reaction to stimuli and are expected to find diverse applications ranging from biomedical devices to advanced architectural materials.  Systems controlled by various stimuli, including pH, light, temperature, and redox have been investigated; however, poor reversibility, response time, and/or the need to continuously add chemicals to switch between mechanical states (e.g. oxidizing/reducing agents) often limits mechanomutable materials to highly niche applications.  For example, previously reported electrochemically mechanomutable hydrogels suffer from extremely slow response due to exceedingly slow mass transport of network bound moieties to within charge transfer distance of an electrode surface.  Here we report a new reversible mechanomutable hydrogel based on a composite carbon nanotube/polymer network containing electrochemically switchable supramolecular inclusion-complex crosslinks.  The percolated CNT network allows for direct conduction of charge to the redox responsive physical crosslinks, eliminating the need for diffusion of whole polymer chains and reducing response time.

Design and characterization of an electrochemically mechanomutable hydrogel with a supramolecular-crosslinked CNT network for faster stimuli response

245th National Meeting (2013)

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