Self-Healing Redox-Active Coatings Based on Ferrocenyl-Containing Polysiloxanes

The known ferrocenyl-containing silicone materials have redox activity and electrical conductivity at the level of antistatic materials, but they are incapable of self-healing due to their irreversible cross-linking, which significantly reduces their application area. The development of novel self-healing ferrocenyl-containing silicone rubbers (FSRs) is a promising area of research that extends the possibilities of their application as protective coatings. In this work, a new method was developed to synthesize FSRs with different ferrocenyl unit content (25 and 50 mol.%) by anionic copolymerization of cyclic octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D-4), cyclic tetraferrocenyl-substituted 1,3,5,7-tetramethyltetrasiloxane (Fc(4)D(4)), and bicyclic cross-linking agent (bis-D-4). The optimal concentrations of the cross-linking agent and ferrocenyl-substituted unit content for FSRs are 5 wt.% and 25 mol.%, respectively. The FSRs exhibit tensile strength and elongation at break up to 0.1 MPa and 215%. The FSRs possess both self-healing at room and/or elevated temperatures (100 & DEG;C) and redox activity (Fc/Fc(+) transformations at E-0 = 0.43 V) and conductivity at the antistatic level (ca. 10(-10)-10(-11) S & BULL;cm(-1)). The thermal properties of the FSRs were studied. The proposed approach is relevant for the creation of new functional silicone materials as flexible, self-healing, and antistatic protective coatings.