Glow Stick‐Inspired Multilayered Composites with Damage Self‐Reporting and Self‐Healing Properties for Aquatic Environments

Abstract

Materials are inevitable to suffer from mechanical damage such as scratches or cuts when they are exposed to the marine environment. Herein, a hierarchical composite material is fabricated, which demonstrates the self‐reporting and self‐healing behaviors in aquatic environments including deionized water, seawater, acidic, and basic aqueous solutions. The composite material is constructed of a five‐layer structure and shows excellent responsiveness to water molecules. After the material is damaged underwater, the chemiluminescence reaction comes into being quickly and the luminescence signal can last for over 3 h, allowing for timely and rapid reporting of damage. Furthermore, materials demonstrate high stretchability and self‐healing behavior, making them possible to serve as soft products used in underwater environments.

Transient regulation of gel properties by chemical reaction networks

“…The contribution of our research group to the above six aspects is summarized in Table 3. The studies on the transient assembly of macroscopic gels mediated by CRNs, 28 transient healing ability of kinetically inert gels, 29,44,90,91 and self-reporting via cascade reaction-regulated CL 45,106 are pioneered by our research group, and these contributions have made significant impacts on the fields of damage-reporting and self-healing materials, macroscopic supramolecular assembly, and metastable materials. 1,5,[112][113][114][115][116] Moreover, the CRNs present an opportunity to construct a range of complex functional gels with various excellent features from a single responsive material, expanding the scope of applications of gels.…”

“…19,43 (vi) Cascade reaction-based self-reporting of external stimuli: Depending on the alarm signals, different characterization methods such as fluorescence and chemiluminescence spectroscopy can be used. 45,106 Although the common characterization techniques for these six aspects are summarized here, the most appropriate characterization method should be chosen according to the features of the system in practice.…”

“…We also explored a CL-based damage-reporting strategy for insulating polymers. 106 A multilayered composite material was fabricated by the combination of a peroxyoxalate ester-based CL system and a fluoropolymer with dipole–dipole interactions, showing the most sensitive self-reporting effect. The peroxyoxalate ester and the H 2 O 2 generated from the reaction between CaO 2 and water underwent a nucleophilic reaction to produce the high-energy intermediates, and the CL formed by the further reaction of intermediates and dyes.…”