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Self-repairing polymers

Materials that heal themselves

Nature Chemistry volume 4, pages 435–436 (2012)Cite this article

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Previous approaches to the development of self-repairing polymeric materials have required either the input of external energy or the use of a healing agent. Now, a new type of elastomer, in which hard/soft phase-separation occurs at the nanoscale, displays efficient and entirely autonomic self-repair through reversible hydrogen bonding.

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Figure 1: A self-healing elastomer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Colquhoun is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD, UK,

    Howard M. Colquhoun

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  1. Howard M. Colquhoun
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Correspondence to Howard M. Colquhoun.

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Colquhoun, H. Materials that heal themselves. Nature Chem 4, 435–436 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1357

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