An antibacterial, highly stretched and self-healing polyurethane elastomer for flexible electronic devices

Broadening the range of practical applications of self-healing materials has become a research hotspot for the development of durable and smart materials. This study the development of a hydrogen bond-rich of self-healing elastomer, formed by the combination of disulfide and diazolidinyl urea (DU) cross-linked polyurethane polymers (PDD). The prepared polyurethane elastomer material possessed extremely high mechanical properties (including a stress of 25 MPa and high toughness of 306 MJ/m3). Besides, PDD exhibited an excellent self-healing performance. Even if it is subjected to long-term tensile deformation or extreme strain, it could recover almost completely to its initial state within 12 h in a 60 °C environment. In addition, the synergistic effect of diazolidinylurea and element S on the polymer film gave the material excellent antimicrobial properties. Finally, we added carbon nanotubes into the polyurethane system and assembled them into smart sensors for applications in flexible electronic devices. The versatility of this sensor has been demonstrated in human motion applications.