Photo-modulated activation of organic bases enabling microencapsulation and on-demand reactivity

A method is developed for facile encapsulation of reactive organic bases with potential application for autonomous damage detection and self-healing polymers. Highly reactive chemicals such as bases and acids are challenging to encapsulate by traditional oil-water emulsion techniques due to unfavorable physical and chemical interactions. In this work, reactivity of the bases is temporarily masked with photo-removable protecting groups, and the resulting inactive payloads are encapsulated via an in situ emulsion-templated interfacial polymerization method. The encapsulated payloads are then activated to restore the organic bases via photo irradiation, either before or after being released from the core-shell carriers. The efficacy of the photo-activated capsules is demonstrated by a damage-triggered, pH-induced color change in polymeric coatings and by recovery of adhesive strength of a damaged interface. Given the wide range of potential photo-deprotection chemistries, this encapsulation scheme provides a simple but powerful method for storage and targeted delivery of a broad variety of reactive chemicals, promoting design of diverse autonomous functionalities in polymeric materials.

Encapsulation of Cerium Nitrate within Poly(urea-formaldehyde) Microcapsules for the Development of Self-Healing Epoxy-Based Coating

In order to study the release of cerium nitrate in a self-healing epoxy-based coating, poly (urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) microcapsules containing cerium nitrate were synthesized. The effects of healing agent concentration and weight percent of microcapsules in the epoxy resin were studied through the incorporation of microcapsules within an epoxy-based coating. The prepared microcapsules were characterized using thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and confirmed the successful encapsulation of cerium nitrate within PUF capsules. The self-healing performance of the prepared epoxy coating was investigated in 0.6 M NaCl solution using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. The EIS results indicated the successful release of encapsulated cerium nitrate from PUF microcapsules once the damage occurred in the epoxy coating, which led to effective self-healing of the epoxy-based coating. The presence of chlorine and cerium ions in the solution led to the precipitation of cerium hydroxides and oxides in the scratched area as a passive layer which hindered the corrosion in the damaged area. In addition, the EIS results showed that the healing performance of the coatings depends on the weight percent of microcapsules and the concentration of the self-healing agent. The highest self-healing performance was achieved for the maximum amount of microcapsule incorporation (10 wt %), while the increase in the microcapsule percent led to a decrease in the adhesion of the coating to the substrate.