Key-and-lock commodity self-healing copolymers

Self-healing materials are notable for their ability to recover from physical or chemical damage. We report that commodity copolymers, such as poly(methyl methacrylate)/n-butyl acrylate [p(MMA/nBA)] and their derivatives, can self-heal upon mechanical damage. This behavior occurs in a narrow compositional range for copolymer topologies that are preferentially alternating with a random component (alternating/random) and is attributed to favorable interchain van der Waals forces forming key-and-lock interchain junctions. The use of van der Waals forces instead of supramolecular or covalent rebonding or encapsulated reactants eliminates chemical and physical alterations and enables multiple recovery upon mechanical damage without external intervention. Unlike other self-healing approaches, perturbation of ubiquitous van der Waals forces upon mechanical damage is energetically unfavorable for interdigitated alternating/random copolymer motifs that facilitate self-healing under ambient conditions.