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Fast Self‐Healing of Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Nanocoating and Restoration of Super Oxygen Barrier
Author(s) -
Song Yixuan,
Meyers Kevin P.,
Gerringer Joseph,
Ramakrishnan Ramesh K.,
Humood Mohammad,
Qin Shuang,
Polycarpou Andreas A.,
Nazarenko Sergei,
Grunlan Jaime C.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201700064
Subject(s) - polyacrylic acid , materials science , polyelectrolyte , polymer , chemical engineering , self healing , oxygen , nanotechnology , composite material , polymer chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology , engineering , medicine , alternative medicine
A self‐healable gas barrier nanocoating, which is fabricated by alternate deposition of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) polyelectrolytes, is demonstrated in this study. This multilayer film, with high elastic modulus, high glass transition temperature, and small free volume, has been shown to be a super oxygen gas barrier. An 8‐bilayer PEI/PAA multilayer assembly (≈700 nm thick) exhibits an oxygen transmission rate (OTR) undetectable to commercial instrumentation (<0.005 cc (m −2 d −1 atm −1 )). The barrier property of PEI/PAA nanocoating is lost after a moderate amount of stretching due to its rigidity, which is then completely restored after high humidity exposure, therefore achieving a healing efficiency of 100%. The OTR of the multilayer nanocoating remains below the detection limit after ten stretching‐healing cycles, which proves this healing process to be highly robust. The high oxygen barrier and self‐healing behavior of this polymer multilayer nanocoating makes it ideal for packaging (food, electronics, and pharmaceutical) and gas separation applications.