Polymer Mobility Modulation with End Group Modification

The mobility of polymer, among various properties, is one of the most important factors affecting self-healing performance. Current research focused on the self-healing moiety inside the polymer backbone, which usually has low mobility, to improve self-healing properties. We controlled the dynamicity of the polymer chain with end group modification, which has the highest mobility in a polymer chain. The three end groups, mixing, gathering, and disturbing groups, were end-capped to the common polymer backbone. The disturbing group polymer has the highest mobility since the disturbing group disturbed hydrogen bonding between the main chain. The high mobility of disturbing group polymer resulted in the highest healing efficiency. The disturbing group polymer also enhanced the mobility of the gathering group polymer only with a small amount, resulting in self-healing of the gathering group polymer, which was impossible before mixing the disturbing group. This work suggests a new strategy of polymer design, controlling dynamicity without modification of the main chain.