Infrared-light-driven self-healing MoS2/polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel with simultaneous enhancement of strength and ductility

Self-healing hydrogels exhibit special self-healing or self-recovery function like human skin after injuring, thereafter, draw lots of attention in biomedical applications. However, self-healing hydrogels with strong mechanical and rapid self-healing properties are not fully realized. MoS 2 /polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels are developed to achieve rapid self-healing function by utilizing the excellent photothermal conversion effect of MoS 2 under near-infrared (NIR) light. Effects of microstructure and content of MoS 2 on self-healing and mechanical properties of MoS 2 /PVA hydrogels are investigated, including flower-like MoS 2 spheres by bottom-up hydrothermal reaction and MoS 2 sheets by liquid-phase stripping method. The MoS 2 /PVA hydrogels embodied with the two types of MoS 2 were produced by simple freezing/thawing method, and exhibited rapid self-healing function, together with simultaneous enhancement of strength and ductility. The MoS 2 /PVA hydrogel modified by flower-like MoS 2 spheres with a content of 0.5 wt% presents a significant self-healing function with a healing efficiency up to 90.0% within 5 min, and an enhancement of tensile strength of 9.1 MPa (190% to blank PVA) and a ductility of 162.5% (290% to blank PVA). Furthermore, the MoS 2 /PVA gel with flower-like MoS 2 spheres into the PVA networks produces a significant enhancement of fracture strength (58.4 MPa) after fully curing, characterized by an increases of 612% compared with the pure PVA. The photo-induced self-healing and strengthening effects of the MoS 2 /PVA hydrogels are discussed. • A rapid self-healing MoS 2 /PVA hydrogels is developed under near-infrared light. • Photo-thermal conversion effect of MoS 2 produces the self-healing property. • Flower-like MoS 2 spheres exhibit better healing efficiency than MoS 2 sheets. • MoS 2 /PVA hydrogels present a simultaneous increase of strength and plasticity. • 2D and 3D strengthening effects of the MoS 2 /PVA composites are discussed.