Preparing a biobased (biomass-based) high performance epoxy resin with extremely large biomass content is of great importance for sustainable development. Herein, a new epoxy resin with a precise structure, bis(2-methoxy-4-(oxiran-2ylmethyl)phenyl)furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (EUFU-EP), was synthesized from two biobased green and low toxic compounds (2,5furandicarboxylic acid and eugenol) and the biomass content of EUFU-EP is as large as 93.3%. In addition, a new biobased epoxy resin, EUFU-EP/MHHPA, was prepared by using methyl hexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA) as the curing agent and 2ethyl-4-methylimidazole as the curing accelerator. The curing reactivity and integrated performances including thermal and mechanical properties as well as flame retardancy of the cured resin were systematically researched and compared with those of petrochemical resource-based epoxy resin (DGEBA/MHHPA) consisting of commercial diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), MHHPA and 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole. Results show that EUFU-EP/MHHPA and DGEBA/MHHPA have similar curing reactivity, but cured EUFU-EP/MHHPA resin shows better thermal properties, rigidity, and flame retardancy than cured DGEBA/MHHPA resin. Specifically, the glass transition temperature (T g ) of EUFU-EP/MHHPA resin is as high as 153.4 °C, the storage modulus at 50 °C increases by 19.8%; meanwhile, both peak heat release rate and total heat release reduce by 19.0%. The nature behind these outstanding integrated performances is attributed to the unique structure of EUFU-EP, which is not only rich in aromatic structure but also has a furan ring. The especially large biomass content and outstanding thermal, mechanical, and flame retarding performances clearly show that EUFU-EP resin has a great potential in actual applications.

Advanced stretchable electronic sensors with a complex structure place higher requirements on the mechanical properties and manufacturing process of the stretchable substrate materials. Herein, three kinds of polyurethane acrylate oligomers were synthesized successfully and mixed with a commercial acrylate monomer (isobornyl acrylate) to prepare photocurable resins with a low viscosity for a digital light processing three-dimensional (3D) printer without custom equipment. Results showed that the resin containing poly­(tetrahydrofuran) units (PPTMGA-40) exhibited optimal mechanical properties and shape recoverability. The tensile strength and elongation at break of PPTMGA-40 were 15.7 MPa and 414.3%, respectively. The unprecedented fatigue resistance of PPTMGA-40 allowed it to withstand 100 compression cycles at 80% strain without fracture. The transmittance of PPTMGA-40 reached 89.4% at 550 nm, showing high transparency. An ionic hydrogel was coated on the surface of 3D-printed structures to fabricate stretchable sensors, and their conductivity, transparency, and mechanical performance were characterized. A robust piezoresistive strain sensor with a high strength (∼6 MPa) and a wearable finger guard sensor were fabricated, demonstrating that this hydrogel-elastomer system can meet the requirements of applications for advanced stretchable electronic sensors and expand the usage scope.

Shape memory polymer (SMP)-based 4D printing combines the advantages of SMP and 3D printing to form active materials with delicate structure. Nowadays, studies of SMP-based 4D printing materials mainly focus on cross-linked (meth)­acrylate of which the permanent shape cannot be changed for their covalent linkage, limiting the usage of 4D printing materials. In this paper, a novel (meth)­acrylate monomer with an aldehyde group (2-(methacryloyloxy)­ethyl 4-formylbenzoate, MEFB) and hyperbranched cross-linker (HPASi) are synthesized to build (meth)­acrylate systems (IEMSis) with dynamic imine bonds for 4D printing. The flexible chain structure of HPASi significantly enhances the toughness of IEMSis, which is 33–97-fold higher than that of the one without HPASi (IEM). The addition of HPASi also endows IEMSis good shape memory properties, and the shape fixity and shape recovery ratios of them are 97.5–97.6 and 91.4–93.7%, respectively. At the same time, IEMSis can undergo a stress relaxation process by dynamic exchanges of imine bonds under relatively mild conditions without a catalyst to acquire an ability of permanent shape reconfiguration. The shape retention ratio of IEMSi3 is 84.3%. In addition, the 4D-printed structures displayed here indicate that these 4D printing systems have a myriad of potential applications including aerospace structures, soft robotic grippers, smart electron switches, and intelligent packaging, while the reconfigurability shown by IEMSi3 will expand the scope of application fields of 4D printing materials.