Polymers, self-mending

Aprahamian 1, Mendes P, Leung KC-E, Benitez D, Stoddart JE. The functionalization of polymers with gold nanoparticles nsing reversible supramolecnlar self-assembly processes. Abstracts of Papers In 232nd ACS National Meeting 2006 Sept 10-14 San Francisco (CA). 

Matter of all types and sizes can experience self-assembly from atoms and molecules to colloids and polymers. Figure 14.11 shows large categories that the building blocks for system assembly can be sorted into and examples of systems they form (Ozin et al., 2009 Lee, 2008). The instructions for self-assembly are encoded into the budding blocks, and modifying these molecular structures causes the differentiation shown at the macroscopic level (Mendes et al., 2013). 

Self-healing is often used in a broader sense, to mean reconstruction of the entire polymer instead of just its surface. A relevant example here is a PDMS elastomer that contains microencapsulated PDMS resin and microencapsulated cross linker. If this type of PDMS is damaged, both capsules rupture and the newly formed elastomer mends the damaged area. 

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