An ultra robust tough, stretchable, and super high elastic recovery supramolecular elastomer resulting from hydrogen-bond interaction by sp2 hybridized boron-urethane bonds.

Elastomers are omnipresent in everyday life and industry, yet the development of an elastomer with both superb stress and toughness presents a prodigious challenge. In this report, a high-strength, tough, and high-elastic elastomer derived from sp2 hybrid orbitals of phenylboronic acid was designed. The spatial conformation of network becomes significantly more compact due to the sp2 hybridization of boron.

Solid-state intramolecular motions in continuous fibers driven by ambient humidity for fluorescent sensors.

One striking feature of molecular rotors is their ability to change conformation with detectable optical signals through molecular motion when stimulated. However, due to the strong intermolecular interactions, synthetic molecular rotors have often relied on fluid environments. Here, we take advantage of the solid-state intramolecular motion of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors and one-dimensional fibers, developing highly sensitive optical fiber sensors that respond to ambient humidity rapidly and reversibly with observable chromatic fluorescence change.