Key Takeaways & Executive Findings
- •• • The supramolecular polymer achieves a Young's modulus of 47.08 MPa, elongation at break of 605%, and toughness of 15.24 MJ m−3, enabling robust mechanical performance for load-bearing damping applications. • • Dynamic hydrogen bonds provide dual responsiveness: a 6.7-fold change in Young's modulus under varying strain rates and a five-order-of-magnitude variation in storage modulus across temperatures, allowing tunable damping across operational conditions. • • The loss factor (tanδ) reaches 1.6 at 1 Hz, significantly exceeding conventional viscoelastic polymers (tanδ < 0.1), indicating superior energy dissipation efficiency for vibration and noise reduction. • • Side-chain interpenetration and mutual friction under mechanical forces enable repetitive energy dissipation, addressing the trade-off between damping capacity and toughness that limits current materials.
Abstract
Damping materials are critical for mitigating vibrations and noise across various frequencies by converting mechanical energy into thermal energy. However, achieving a simultaneous high damping capacity and high toughness remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report a supramolecular polymer (SMP) that integrates high damping and toughness through the synergistic action of dynamic hydrogen bonds and side-chain relaxation. The polymer exhibits exceptional mechanical properties: a Young's modulus of 47.08 MPa, elongation at break of 605%, and toughness of 15.24 MJ m−3. The dynamic hydrogen bonds confer dual responsiveness to strain rate and temperature, with a 6.7-fold variation in Young's modulus under different stretching rates and a five-order-of-magnitude change in storage modulus across a temperature range. Under mechanical force, the interpenetrating side chains undergo mutual friction, enabling repetitive energy dissipation. This mechanism yields superior damping ability with a loss factor (tanδ) of 1.6 at 1 Hz, demonstrating outstanding performance in vibration absorption and noise reduction. The material's design offers a promising strategy for developing high-performance damping materials that balance energy dissipation and mechanical robustness, suitable for applications in wearable electronics, protective equipment, and structural vibration control.
1. Introduction
Vibrations and noise are pervasive in modern life, posing health risks and compromising the performance of precision equipment. Advanced wearable and implantable bioelectronic devices, for instance, suffer from signal artifacts induced by low-frequency body movements. Conventional damping materials, primarily viscoelastic polymers, dissipate mechanical energy through internal friction, yet they typically exhibit low loss factors (tanδ < 0.1) and insufficient mechanical strength, limiting their practical utility. Strategies to enhance damping, such as broadening the glass transition via blending or copolymerization, often result in higher moduli that restrict soft-material applications. Alternatively, introducing extra relaxation mechanisms like pendant chains or dynamic bonds can improve damping but frequently sacrifices toughness, leaving a critical bottleneck: achieving both high energy dissipation and high mechanical robustness in a single material.
This work addresses that bottleneck by designing a supramolecular polymer (SMP) that synergistically combines dynamic hydrogen bonds with side-chain relaxation. The dynamic hydrogen bonds provide reversible fracture-reformation, enabling strain-rate and temperature responsiveness, while the interpenetrating side chains undergo mutual friction under mechanical stress, dissipating energy repeatedly. This dual mechanism yields exceptional mechanical properties—Young's modulus of 47.08 MPa, elongation at break of 605%, and toughness of 15.24 MJ m−3—alongside a high loss factor of 1.6 at 1 Hz. The material thus achieves a balance between high damping capacity and high toughness, offering a promising solution for applications in vibration isolation, noise reduction, and impact protection.
Loading authentic research manuscript (Pages 1–5)...
Jia-Mei Dong, Qi-Sheng Huang, Yan-Long Luo, Zi-Han Zhao, Cheng-Hui Li (2026). Supramolecular Damping Materials with High Energy Dissipation and High Toughness Derived from Side-Chain-Mediated Hydrogen Bonds. SCIENCE CHINA Materials. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-025-3768-8
Research & Educational Purpose Only: The translations, structured abstracts, analytical annotations, and data reports provided by SinoGreenTechare intended exclusively for academic research, internal corporate R&D, and educational benchmarking. They do not constitute formal engineering, chemical safety, legal, or professional advice.
Copyright & Intellectual Property Notice: Original copyright of the underlying source articles and experimental data remains with the respective authors, institutions, and original publishing journals. SinoGreenTech claims intellectual property only over its proprietary translations, analytical syntheses, and AEO structured enhancements in accordance with international fair use and academic citation principles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the maximum operating temperature range for the supramolecular damping polymer, and how does the storage modulus vary across this range?
The storage modulus exhibits a five-order-of-magnitude variation across different temperatures, indicating a broad operational window. While the exact temperature range is not specified in the abstract, the material's dual responsiveness to temperature suggests it can be tuned for applications from low-temperature to near-room-temperature conditions, typical for viscoelastic damping materials.
How does the damping performance (tanδ = 1.6 at 1 Hz) compare to commercial damping elastomers, and what are the trade-offs in mechanical properties?
Commercial viscoelastic polymers typically have tanδ < 0.1, whereas this material achieves 1.6, a 16-fold improvement. This high damping is achieved without compromising toughness (15.24 MJ m−3) and elongation (605%), which is a significant advantage over conventional materials that often sacrifice mechanical strength for damping.
What is the mechanism behind the strain-rate responsiveness, and how does the 6.7-fold change in Young's modulus affect practical damping applications?
The dynamic hydrogen bonds break and reform under mechanical stress, with the rate of reformation depending on strain rate. At higher strain rates, bonds break faster than they reform, leading to a higher modulus (stiffer response), while at lower rates, bonds have time to reform, resulting in a lower modulus. This allows the material to adapt its stiffness to the frequency of vibration, enhancing energy dissipation across a range of impact speeds.
Can the supramolecular polymer be processed using conventional polymer manufacturing techniques, and what is the scalability potential?
The abstract does not detail processing methods, but supramolecular polymers are generally amenable to solution casting or melt processing due to their dynamic crosslinks. The synthesis involves side-chain functionalization, which can be scaled using standard polymerization techniques. Further studies would be needed to assess industrial scalability, but the material's design suggests potential for large-scale production.
What is the fatigue resistance and long-term stability of the damping performance under repeated mechanical cycling?
The abstract does not provide fatigue data. However, the reversible nature of hydrogen bonds and side-chain friction suggests potential for repeated energy dissipation without permanent damage. Long-term stability would depend on the reformation efficiency of hydrogen bonds and the resistance of side chains to wear. Further cyclic testing is required to quantify fatigue life.
Related Chinese Research & Cross-Citations
Ammonium Vanadate Cathodes in Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries: Design Strategies and Research Progress
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) offer a compelling combination of high safety, environmental compatibility, and abundant zinc resources, positioning them as viable candidates for grid-scale energy storage. Their practical deployment, however, is constrained by cathode materials that suffer from structural degradation, sluggish Zn2+ diffusion, and inadequate electronic conductivity. Ammonium vanadates (AVOs) have emerged as high-performance cathodes owing to their layered or tunneled frameworks, which accommodate reversible Zn2+ (de)intercalation with diffusion coefficients superior to conventional vanadium oxides. This review systematically examines recent advances in AVO cathodes for AZIBs, correlating morphological variations—including nanowires, nanobelts, and microflowers—with electrochemical characteristics. The analysis establishes structure–performance relationships that govern capacity retention, rate capability, and cycling stability. Key optimization strategies are critically assessed: defect engineering to enhance electronic conductivity and active site density, interlayer spacing modulation via pre-intercalated cations or structural water to facilitate Zn2+ transport, and composite construction with conductive carbonaceous or polymeric matrices to mitigate dissolution and improve mechanical integrity. Despite these advances, challenges persist in achieving long-term cycling stability (>10,000 cycles) and high areal mass loading (>10 mg cm-2) required for commercial viability. The review concludes by outlining future research directions, including operando characterization of degradation mechanisms and scalable synthesis routes for AVO cathodes in practical AZIB configurations.
Microenvironment-responsive therapeutic platforms: Innovations for spinal cord injury repair
Spinal cord injury (SCI) remains a formidable clinical challenge due to the complex, dynamic lesion microenvironment that impedes axonal regeneration and functional recovery. This highlight examines a microenvironment-responsive therapeutic platform integrating microneedle delivery, ferroptosis modulation, and hydrogen therapy. The platform leverages the pathological hallmarks of SCI—oxidative stress, iron dyshomeostasis, and lipid peroxidation—to achieve spatiotemporally controlled cargo release. By combining microneedle arrays for minimally invasive intraparenchymal administration with hydrogen-releasing biomaterials, the system addresses the dual bottlenecks of poor drug penetration across the blood-spinal cord barrier and insufficient neutralization of reactive oxygen species. Ferroptosis inhibition is achieved through iron chelation and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) stabilization, while hydrogen gas scavenges hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. This multimodal strategy attenuates secondary injury cascades, reduces glial scar formation, and promotes neural stem cell differentiation. The work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82574518) and the Talent Cultivation Project of Paring Academicians with Young Talents in higher education institutions in Zhejiang. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This highlight underscores the translational potential of microenvironment-responsive platforms for SCI repair, emphasizing the need for rigorous preclinical validation and scalable manufacturing.
Dual-Site Adsorption over Phosphorus-Doped Copper Oxide for Efficient CO2 Electroreduction to Ethylene
Electroreduction of CO2 to ethylene offers a promising route for renewable electricity storage, yet achieving high ethylene selectivity at industrial current densities remains challenging due to the large energy barrier for C–C coupling. Here, we report a “MOF-assisted in situ doping” strategy to introduce the oxophilic nonmetal phosphorus (P) into the copper oxide (CuO) lattice, constructing a localized Cu–P dual-site adsorption configuration for the key *OCCHO intermediate. The optimized catalyst delivers an impressive Faradaic efficiency of 64.6% for ethylene with a partial current density of 646 mA cm-2. Comprehensive structural characterizations demonstrate that P mainly occupies Cu sites, generating abundant lattice defects and oxygen vacancies. In situ synchrotron infrared spectroscopy and theoretical calculations reveal that P doping modulates the electronic structure of Cu, optimizes the binding energies of *CO and *CHO, and stabilizes *OCCHO via P–O/Cu–C dual-site adsorption, thereby significantly lowering the asymmetric C-C coupling energy barrier to 0.74 eV. This work highlights a dual-site microenvironment regulation strategy for CO2-to-ethylene electroreduction.
Hydrophilic Single-Atom Interface Unlocks Low-Potential CO Removal on Pt in PEMFCs
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) fed with reformate hydrogen suffer severe anode poisoning by trace CO, necessitating high CO electrooxidation potentials that degrade performance and durability. This work introduces a Pt@CrSA-N-C anode catalyst featuring a hydrophilic Cr single-atom interface that simultaneously weakens CO adsorption on Pt via electronic regulation and promotes water activation, thereby lowering the CO oxidation onset potential to approximately 0.13 V vs. RHE. The onset potential was determined by two independent methods: the first potential at which the background-corrected current exceeds 0 mA cm-2 during CO oxidation reaction tests in a three-electrode system, and the potential at which the forward scan current exceeds the N2 background current in CO-stripping voltammetry. The catalyst achieves a maximum power density under 100 ppm CO that surpasses reported advanced catalysts, as compiled in Table S5. Structural, spectroscopic, and electrochemical characterizations collectively establish a coherent rationale for the hydrophilic single-atom interface strategy. This approach addresses the longstanding trade-off between CO tolerance and Pt utilization, offering a viable route for low-potential CO removal in practical PEMFC anodes.
An Ionoelastomer-Based Bioinspired Wearable Electronics with Tele-Perception and Tactile Sensation for Machine Learning-Assisted Rehabilitation Management
Comprehensive assessment of rehabilitation efficiency is essential for designing appropriate training programs for better musculoskeletal functional recovery. Existing contact-receptor-dependent rehabilitation assessment systems mostly focus on assessing the restoration of muscle function by evaluating grip strength or joint flexion angle; however, parameters reflecting neuromuscular synergistic function are always overlooked. Herein, we develop an ionoelastomer-based soft artificial electroreceptor (SAER) that integrates tele-perception and tactile sensation to track the rehabilitation process, collecting signals related to approaching speed and grip strength sequentially. The SAER uses polyurethane ionoelastomer incorporated with quasi-solid conductive salt as the electric field receptor, and is integrated on a rehabilitation-training ball after assembly to establish an untethered detection device; this enables the remote capture of hand approaching parameter within a 9 cm range, followed by the quantification of grip strength when contacting and grasping. Furthermore, a data-driven assessment system is established by integrating machine learning, which accurately classifies rehabilitation efficiency into six levels; it supports for rehabilitation evaluation and training programs adjustment. Overall, the SAER-based rehabilitation management system establishes a paradigm that synergistically evaluating parameters corresponding to neuromuscular functional restoration and holds strong potential for home-based active rehabilitation for minimizing dependence on frequent clinical supervision.
Microwave-Absorbing Materials with Strong Environmental Adaptability for Corrosion Protection, Anti-Icing, and Thermal Management
Microwave-absorbing materials (MAMs) deployed on naval vessels, aerospace vehicles, and critical electronic systems face coupled electromagnetic, marine salt-spray corrosion, and extreme-temperature loads that legacy single-function absorbers cannot withstand. This review consolidates progress on three environmentally adaptive MAM classes: corrosion-protective, anti-icing, and thermal-management absorbers. The electromagnetic loss and impedance-matching fundamentals are first established, then the synergistic mechanisms, design strategies, and characterization protocols for each class are examined against representative material systems and their measured performance. The analysis identifies a shared design logic—multiscale hierarchical architecture, interfacial polarization engineering, and multifunctional phase integration—while distinguishing the divergent protection mechanisms: barrier and passivation effects for corrosion, surface-energy and latent-heat regulation for anti-icing, and phonon–electron transport decoupling for thermal management. Persistent bottlenecks include the trade-off between impedance matching and protective-layer density, the absence of standardized coupled-field test protocols, and the scarcity of long-term salt-spray and thermal-cycling durability data. Future directions are delineated: intelligent self-adaptive absorbers, multiphysics-coupled simulation frameworks, and environmentally benign multifunctional integration. The review provides a theoretical and technical basis for the design, construction, and engineering scale-up of next-generation high-performance absorbers for aerospace, electronic, and marine equipment.