Self-healing Under Stress

In the past decades, synthetic materials that are physically connected via dynamic and reversible, non-covalent bonds have emerged as promising candidates to mimic natural materials. While the molecular chemistry and stress responsiveness of individual non-covalent bonds have become central to the sub-field of mechanochemistry, when zooming out to a larger length scale, we find that much less is known about the cooperative behaviour of such bonds, which however is paramount to the entire phenomenon of material’s adaptation. Countless mechanisms have been proposed to describe this cooperativity, but existing experimental approaches have, thus far, failed in yielding a comprehensive characterization of both molecular and macroscopic adaptive responses. In this project, a joint collaboration between PCC and BIP groups, we will create novel in situ experimental tools and use them to decipher the collective response of adaptive materials. Additionally, we will focus on the spatial variation within these materials arising by mechanically stressing them, and we will reveal how this variation results in active adaptation and remodelling.