Abstract
In recent years, much attention has been directed toward self-healing or self-mending properties of polymeric materials, because these properties are closely related to efficient utilization of natural resources, energy-saving, overcoming of environmental problems, and safety. The self-healing processes are indispensable for the design and production of new materials. There are two ways for designing self-healing materials. One is an engineering approach and the other is a chemical approach. Engineering approach mainly focuses on mesoscopic scale, as represented by composite material with crack-healing mechanism in it. Chemical approach mainly focuses on microscopic scale, as represented by polymers carrying functional groups that form reversible covalent or non-covalent bonds. In this review, these two approaches are briefly introduced. Especially, our recent research about self-healing materials based on host-guest interaction is further illustrated in detail.
