Nature Communications (Dec 2016)

Conditional repair by locally switching the thermal healing capability of dynamic covalent polymers with light

  • Anne Fuhrmann,
  • Robert Göstl,
  • Robert Wendt,
  • Julia Kötteritzsch,
  • Martin D. Hager,
  • Ulrich S. Schubert,
  • Kerstin Brademann-Jock,
  • Andreas F. Thünemann,
  • Ulrich Nöchel,
  • Marc Behl,
  • Stefan Hecht

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13623
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Healable materials are typically repaired by heat, which can affect the properties of the substance. Here the authors report a dynamic covalent polymer network in which light can switch the healing abilities on or off, allowing healing at defined locations without affecting the polymer as a whole.