J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2025, Vol. 229: 36-47.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2024.11.077

• Research article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Thermosensitive, tough and size-adjustable elastomer with multi-hydrogen bond based on supramolecular interactions

Chaoxian Chena,b,1, Siwen Chenc,1, Zhipeng Houa,1, Kai Zhangd, Yanyan Lvb, Jianshe Huc, Siyu Suna,d,*, Liqun Yanga,e,*, Jing Chenf,*   

  1. aResearch Center for Biomedical Materials, Shenyang Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Techniques, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China;
    bDepartment of Material Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, and Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
    cCenter for Molecular Science and Engineering, College of Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China;
    dDepartment of Gastroenterology, Endoscopic Center, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Minimally Invasive Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Techniques, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China;
    eLiaoning Research Institute for Eugenic Birth & Fertility, China Medical University, Shenyang 110031, China;
    fDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China
  • Received:2024-07-23 Revised:2024-11-11 Accepted:2024-11-25 Published:2025-09-10 Online:2025-01-24
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: .sun-siyu@163.com (S. Sun), yangliqun@sj-hospital.org , yangliqun@cmu.edu.cn (L. Yang), chenj@sj-hospital.org (J. Chen)
  • About author:1These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Medical stents have made significant strides in development, however, creating a single manufactur-ing material that combines size adjustability, robust strength, and degradability remains a major chal-lenge. Here, we developed an elastomer designed for stent fabrication, featuring excellent thermo-responsive shape memory and fast self-healing. This elastomer is produced through supramolecular inter-actions between liquid crystal moieties, which exhibit strong orientation, and a polymer backbone. These supramolecular interactions provide the elastomer with remarkable mechanical strength (10.46 MPa). In-terestingly, the elastomer shows excellent mesocrystalline stability and cyclability, thanks to multiple non-covalent bonds, allowing the crosslinked liquid crystalline phase to maintain integrity at temper-atures up to 285 ℃. Impressively, the elastomer can respond to stress and temperature changes, fully reverting to its original shape in just 25.7 ± 0.94 s. When configured as a helical stent, its macroscopic dimensions can be adjusted to mimic the size of blood vessels in vitro. The stent exhibits rapid respon-siveness at 37 ℃, achieving complete self-expansion within 10 s. Furthermore, it demonstrates excellent degradability, with a weight loss of only 2.75 % ± 0.31 % after 70 d. This innovation paves the way for new possibilities in the use of medical stents, particularly for the long-term treatment of coronary heart disease.

Key words: Size-adjustable stent, Shape memory, Remarkable mechanical strength, Supramolecular interaction, Degradability elastomers