journal article·2026-07

Spider Silk‐Like Nanodomain Spacings Enable Mechanically Robust and Healable Elastomers with Record‐High Puncture Resistance

Yujie Jia, Bin Hong, Bo Qian, Ping Liu, Lizhen Hu, Guangchen Liu, Yingqian Li, Junfen Sun, Yong Chen, Zhengwei You

Small· Volume 22· Issue 41
Publisher page

Abstract

ABSTRACT Spider silk is an exceptionally strong, extensible, and tough natural material, the outstanding mechanical properties of which arise from β ‐sheet nanocrystalline protein domains with an average lattice spacing of approximately 10 nm. Herein, inspired by the microstructure of spider silk, a mechanically robust, healable, and reprocessable fluorinated supramolecular poly(urethane‐urea) (F‐SPUU) elastomer with record‐high puncture energy (889 mJ), is reported. The high‐performance stems from the cross‐linking of polytetrahydrofuran chains with in situ‐formed phase‐separated nanodomains (lattice spacing: 10.02 nm), closely resembling that observed in spider silk. These nanodomains consist of dynamic hydrogen bonded arrays and fluorinated phenol–carbamate bonds. They not only serve as rigid nanofillers that reinforce elastomers, but deform and disintegrate under external forces, dissipating energy to improve puncture resistance and damage tolerance, while endowing elastomers with self‐healability and reprocessability due to their reversibility. As a result, the F‐SPUU elastomer exhibits high tensile strength (39.6 MPa), superior fracture energy (90.8 kJ m − 2 ), excellent self‐healing efficiency (99.1%), and low surface energy (41.7 mJ m − 2 ). The tough self‐healing elastomers enable the fabrication of multifunctional triboelectric nanogenerators, offering a molecular engineering strategy for high performance polymers toward cutting‐edge applications.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Silk-based biomaterials and applications · Polymer composites and self-healing · Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

College of Textiles and Clothing Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent and Green Textile Xinjiang University Urumqi P. R. China

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering Research Base of Textile Materials for Flexible Electronics and Biomedical Applications (China Textile Engineering Society) Shanghai Key Laboratory of Lightweight Composite Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Nano‐Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine Donghua University Shanghai P. R. China

Hexin New Material Co., Ltd Zhejiang P. R. China

Shandong Inov Polyurethane Co., Ltd Zibo P. R. China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

References (41)

Show source-provided references
1. 10.1038/s41586‐024‐07588‐610.1038/s41586‐024‐07588‐6 ↗
2. 10.1038/s41586-019-1736-810.1038/s41586-019-1736-8 ↗
3. 10.1038/s41563‐018‐0084‐710.1038/s41563‐018‐0084‐7 ↗
4. 10.1038/s41586‐022‐05579‐z10.1038/s41586‐022‐05579‐z ↗
5. 10.1126/science.aay903310.1126/science.aay9033 ↗
6. 10.1126/science.aaz669410.1126/science.aaz6694 ↗
7. 10.1038/s41563‐023‐01697‐910.1038/s41563‐023‐01697‐9 ↗
8. 10.1038/nchem.131410.1038/nchem.1314 ↗
9. 10.1002/anie.20240825010.1002/anie.202408250 ↗
10. 10.1038/nature1073910.1038/nature10739 ↗
11. 10.1038/natrevmats.2018.810.1038/natrevmats.2018.8 ↗
12. 10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c0046510.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00465 ↗
13. 10.1038/nchembio.178910.1038/nchembio.1789 ↗
14. 10.1126/science.118893610.1126/science.1188936 ↗
15. 10.1002/adma.20130332310.1002/adma.201303323 ↗
16. 10.1021/ma961293c10.1021/ma961293c ↗
17. 10.1038/s41563‐022‐01384‐110.1038/s41563‐022‐01384‐1 ↗
18. 10.1038/nmat408910.1038/nmat4089 ↗
19. 10.1126/science.116816210.1126/science.1168162 ↗
20. 10.1002/advs.20210396510.1002/advs.202103965 ↗
21. 10.1038/s41467‐023‐37036‐410.1038/s41467‐023‐37036‐4 ↗
22. 10.1002/adfm.20230357110.1002/adfm.202303571 ↗
23. 10.1016/j.scib.2024.03.04710.1016/j.scib.2024.03.047 ↗
24. 10.1007/s40843‐022‐1985‐310.1007/s40843‐022‐1985‐3 ↗
25. 10.1016/j.cej.2021.13308110.1016/j.cej.2021.133081 ↗
26. 10.1002/adma.20200575910.1002/adma.202005759 ↗
27. 10.1002/anie.20250584810.1002/anie.202505848 ↗
28. 10.1016/j.cej.2020.12830010.1016/j.cej.2020.128300 ↗
29. 10.1039/D0MH01447H10.1039/D0MH01447H ↗
30. 10.1002/adfm.20210700610.1002/adfm.202107006 ↗
31. 10.1002/adma.20250790810.1002/adma.202507908 ↗
32. 10.1002/anie.20231843410.1002/anie.202318434 ↗
33. 10.1038/nmat270410.1038/nmat2704 ↗
34. 10.1002/adma.20210149810.1002/adma.202101498 ↗
35. 10.1126/science.124849410.1126/science.1248494 ↗
36. 10.1002/adma.20231175810.1002/adma.202311758 ↗
37. 10.1038/s41467‐021‐25043‐210.1038/s41467‐021‐25043‐2 ↗
38. 10.1002/adma.20251043110.1002/adma.202510431 ↗
39. 10.1002/adma.20170591810.1002/adma.201705918 ↗
40. 10.1016/j.nanoen.2024.11030610.1016/j.nanoen.2024.110306 ↗
41. 10.1021/acsnano.0c0381910.1021/acsnano.0c03819 ↗