Harnessing interfacially-active nanorods to regenerate severed polymer gels

With newly developed computational approaches, we design a nanocomposite that enables self-regeneration of the gel matrix when a significant portion of the material is severed. The cut instigates the dynamic cascade of cooperative events leading to the regrowth. Specifically, functionalized nanorods localize at the new interface and initiate atom transfer radical polymerization with monomers and cross-linkers in the outer solution. The reaction propagates to form a new cross-linked gel, which can be tuned to resemble the uncut material.