Intelligent Self-Healing Design of Conventional Polyolefin Materials

Self-healing polymers face challenges, including structural complexity, high cost, and trade-offs between self-healing efficiency, thermal stability, and mechanical properties. Particularly acute for conventional nonpolar polyolefins, because of the absence of functional groups and dynamic bonds. These issues can be solved through a “triple-phase synergistic design” of olefin block copolymers (OBCs) integrating rigid polyethylene (PE, Tm ≈ 130 °C), dynamic polybutene (PB, Tm ≈ 50 °C, mmmm = 75%), and amorphous domains (Tg ≈ −40 °C). The PB segments exhibit temperature-responsive behavior: below 50 °C, they crystallize synergistically with PE to ensure high mechanical strength; above 50 °C, they transition to an amorphous state, enabling chain mobility for efficient self-healing (90% efficiency). This microstructure overcomes the “rigidity-flexibility” and “healing-heat resistance” trade-offs while maintaining performance in harsh environments (seawater, strong acids, and alkalis). Synthesized via a scalable catalytic strategy, these OBCs transform conventional polyolefins into high-strength, self-healable materials with extended service life and sustainability, offering broad applications in demanding fields.