TY  - JOUR
AU  - Xu, Jian
AU  - Wu, Baohu
AU  - Hou, Lei
AU  - Wu, Peiyi
TI  - Hydrogen Bonding Competition Mediated Phase Separation with Abnormal Moisture‐Induced Stiffness Boosting
JO  - Small
VL  - 20
IS  - 36
SN  - 1613-6810
CY  - Weinheim
PB  - Wiley-VCH
M1  - FZJ-2024-03322
SP  - 2401164
PY  - 2024
AB  - Moisture usually deteriorates polymers’ mechanical performance owing to its plasticizing effect, causing side effects in their practical load-bearing applications. Herein, a simple binary ionogel consisting of an amphiphilic polymer network and a hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL) is developed with remarkable stiffening effect after moisture absorption, demonstrating a complete contrast to water-induced softening effect of most polymer materials. Such a moisture-induced stiffening behavior is induced by phase separation after hydration of this binary ionogel. Specifically, it is revealed that hydrogen (H)-bonding structures play a dominant role in the humidity-responsive behavior of the ionogel, where water will preferentially interact with polymer chains through H-bonding and break the polymer-IL H-bonds, thus leading to phase separation structures with modulus boosting. This work may provide a facile and effective molecular engineering route to construct mechanically adaptive polymers with water-induced dramatic stiffening for diverse applications.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 38700067
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001217133500001
DO  - DOI:10.1002/smll.202401164
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1026169
ER  -