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Polymers with autonomous life-cycle control

Nature volume 540, pages 363–370 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The lifetime of man-made materials is controlled largely by the wear and tear of everyday use, environmental stress and unexpected damage, which ultimately lead to failure and disposal. Smart materials that mimic the ability of living systems to autonomously protect, report, heal and even regenerate in response to damage could increase the lifetime, safety and sustainability of many manufactured items. There are several approaches to achieving these functions using polymer-based materials, but making them work in highly variable, real-world situations is proving challenging.

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Figure 1: The life cycle of polymers with autonomous healing functions.
Figure 2: Multiscale strategies for autonomous repair functions in polymeric materials.
Figure 3: Autonomous prevention and communication of material degradation.
Figure 4: Autonomous healing, regeneration and degradation.

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Acknowledgements

J.F.P. and M.J.R. are grateful to the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for financial support through the Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The authors thank the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for support through the Center of Excellence in Self-Healing, Regeneration, and Structural Remodeling, the National Science Foundation (DMR 1307354), the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (FA8650–13-C-7347) and the BP International Center for Advanced Materials (ICAM). We are grateful to D. Loudermilk, C. Klinger, A. Jerez and I. Patrick for assistance with graphics, and G. Wilson and M. Andersson for insightful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Jason F. Patrick, Maxwell J. Robb, Nancy R. Sottos, Jeffrey S. Moore & Scott R. White

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Maxwell J. Robb & Jeffrey S. Moore

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Nancy R. Sottos

  4. Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Scott R. White

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Competing interests

S.R.W., N.R.S. and J.S.M. have a financial interest in the start-up company AMI, which is mentioned as one of the examples of commercialization activities in the field of self-healing.

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Patrick, J., Robb, M., Sottos, N. et al. Polymers with autonomous life-cycle control. Nature 540, 363–370 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21002

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