Optically healable polymers are of great interest because the stimulus can be applied locally. Most healable polymers exhibit relatively weak mechanical properties and exclude a large range of opportunities for applications such as high performance coatings. We introduce supramolecular polymer glasses based on low-molecular weight monomers as a new class of healable materials. The monomer consists of three ureidopyrimidone (UPy) units linked together, and the molecule can via dimerization of the UPy moieties assemble into a supramolecular network which behaves like a glassy polymer. Rheological studies of the UPy-based supramolecular glass showed that upon heating above T<sub>g</sub> the material shows frequency-dependent storage and loss moduli, indicating polymer like properties. It was found that material properties, in particular above T<sub>g</sub>, can be easily modified by incorporation of a competitive hydrogen bonding guest molecule (e.g. DMF or a mono-functional UPy compound) that acts as a ‘supramolecular plasticizer’. Furthermore, upon irradiation with ultraviolet light, rapid optical healing of damaged surfaces was observed without a change in the material properties. Our work demonstrates that supramolecular glasses are a promising new class of stimuli responsive materials. This approach can be extended to a broad range of new materials based on supramolecular monomers with other core groups and binding motifs to tune the materials properties.

Optically responsive supramolecular glasses

249th National Meeting (2015)

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