I'm very excited to announce that a new publication I’m proud to have been a part of has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. The work is "Triple non-covalent dynamic interactions enabled tough and rapid room temperature self-healing elastomer for next generation soft antenna", a clever use of multiple competing forms of molecular bonding to create a high-quality and self healing elastomer for use in the flexible electronics field. I was very happy to collaborate with the lead author, Pengxiang Si, while I was a member of the Surface Science and Bio-nanomaterials Lab Group in Waterloo, Ontario. Our article can be found through the following link: (Click here to open the article site in a new window)

In this work, a carboxylate-containing polyurethane was synthesized and dispersed as a colloid into water doped with ammonium hydroxide. To this PEI was added; the ionic crosslinking reaction that would normally occur was prevented by the ammonium hydroxide, delaying the solidification process until the colloid was able to dry at room temperature. The resulting polymer was capable of self healing, 1000%+ elongation, and was then used to manufacture a self-healing flexible-stratchable radio antennae.