Conductive, Stretchable, and Self-healing Ionic Gel Based on Dynamic Covalent Bonds and Electrostatic Interaction

Integrating multiple functions into one gel that can be widely applied to electronic devices as well as chemical and biomedical engineering remains a big challenge. Here, a multifunctional ionic liquid/dynamic covalent bonds (ionic/DCB) type gel was designed and synthesized via one-pot polymerization. With the assistance of electrostatic interaction provided by the imidazolium cations of IL and the reversible DCB of boronic ester, as-prepared ionic/DCB gel showed good stretchable properties and high ionic conductivity at ambient conditions. In addition, the electrostatic interaction between imidazolium cations and sulfonate anions and the reversible DCB led to enhanced chain mobility and thereby excellent self-healing properties. Particularly, sulfonate anions in ionic/DCB gel could alleviate the migration of electronegative polysulfide and promote the transportation of electropositive lithium ion in lithium-sulfur battery system. Therefore, this work provides a new insight to promote the current research on self-healing gels, hopefully expanding their applications in electronic devices.