Fabrication And Applications Of Self-healing Polymeric Hydrogels

As a new type of smart materials, self- healing polymeric materials have attracted considerable interest due to their unique feature of healing/repairing abilities, either spontaneously or in response to environmental stimuli. When designing the self- healing materials, it is of great importance to fabricate them through simple and efficient approaches and simultaneously impart the multifunctionalities. In this thesis, a series of self- healing hydrogel materials, based on “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” self- healing mechanisms, were developed by highly efficient “click” reactions. Firstly, multifunctional self- healing hydrogel coatings, based on dynamic disulfide exchange reaction, were prepared via surface- initiated thiol-ene photopolymerization. The resultant hydrogels exhibited antifouling, antibacterial and self- healing properties, showing great potential in long-term application as coatings for biomaterials. Secondly, a self-healing hydrogel coating was designed by incorporation of “intrinsic” dynamic disulfide bonds and “extrinsic” nanocontainers with healing agents. The mesoporous silica microspheres, with large pore volume and surface area, were synthesized and employed as nanocontainers. Finally, two self- healing hydrogels were fabricated by the same polymers and cross-linker, via the efficient thiol-catechol reaction and thiol- yne “click” reaction, respectively. Both hydrogels exhibited good self- healing properties under different external stimuli.