Strong, Compressible, and Ultrafast Self-Recovery Organogel with In Situ Electrical Conductivity Improvement

Abstract

Coordination complexes are widely used to tune the mechanical behaviors of polymer materials, including tensile strength, stretchability, self-healing, and toughness. However, integrating multivalent functions into one material system via solely coordination complexes is challenging, even using combinations of metal ions and polymer ligands. Herein, a single-step process is described using silver-based coordination complexes as cross-linkers to enable high compressibility (>85%). The resultant organogel displays a high compressive strength (>1 MPa) with a low energy loss coefficient (<0.1 at 50% strain). Remarkably, it demonstrates an instant self-recovery at room temperature with a speed >1200 mm s−1, potentially being utilized for designing high-frequency-responsive soft materials (>100 Hz). Importantly, in situ silver nanoparticles are formed, effectively endowing the organogel with high conductivity (550 S cm−1). Given the synthetic simplification to achieve multi-valued properties in a single material system using metal-based coordination complexes, such organogels hold significant potential for wearable electronics, tissue-device interfaces, and soft robot applications.