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Self‐Healing Molecular Crystals
Author(s) -
Commins Patrick,
Hara Hideyuki,
Naumov Panče
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201606003
Subject(s) - self healing , materials science , soft materials , polymer , nanotechnology , solid state , realm , cracking , disulfide bond , crystal (programming language) , structural integrity , polymer science , composite material , chemistry , computer science , medicine , engineering , structural engineering , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , political science , law , programming language
One of the most inevitable limitations of any material that is exposed to mechanical impact is that they are inexorably prone to mechanical damage, such as cracking, denting, gouging, or wearing. To confront this challenge, the field of polymers has developed materials that are capable of autonomous self‐healing and recover their macroscopic integrity similar to biological organisms. However, the study of this phenomenon has mostly remained within the soft materials community and has not been explored by solid‐state organic chemists. The first evidence of self‐healing in a molecular crystal is now presented using crystals of dipyrazolethiuram disulfide. The crystals were mildly compressed and the degree of healing was found to be 6.7 %. These findings show that the self‐healing properties can be extended beyond mesophasic materials and applied towards the realm of ordered solid‐state compounds.