NIR-Triggered High-Efficiency Self-Healable Protective Optical Coating for Vision Systems

Abstract

Recently, self-healing materials have evolved to recover specific functions such as electronic, magnetic, acoustic, structural or hierarchical, and biological properties. In particular, the development of self-healing protection coatings that can be applied to lens components in vision systems such as augmented reality glasses, actuators, and image and time-of-flight sensors has received intensive attention from the industry. In the present study, we designed polythiourethane dynamic networks containing a photothermal N-butyl-substituted diimmonium borate dye to demonstrate their potential applications in self-healing protection coatings for the optical components of vision systems. The optimized self-healing coating exhibited a high transmittance (∼95% in the visible-light region), tunable refractive index (up to 1.6), a moderate Abbe number (∼35), and high surface hardness (>200 MPa). When subjected to near-infrared (NIR) radiation (1064 nm), the surface temperature of the coating increased to 75 °C via the photothermal effect and self-healing of the scratched coatings occurred via a dynamic thiourethane exchange reaction. The coating was applied to a lens protector, and its self-healing performance was demonstrated. The light signal distorted by the scratched surface of the coating was perfectly restored after NIR-induced self-healing. The photoinduced self-healing process can also autonomously occur under sunlight with low energy consumption.

Photochromic Polyurethane Coatings with Cross‐Linked Structure and Self‐Healing Behavior Based on the FRET Effect

“…The anti‐counterfeit coating fabricated by light‐controlled FRET effect via photo‐dimerization of AN can not only achieve the fluorescent color changes, but also effectively solve this problem of low healing efficiency for cross‐linked coatings. [ 43 ] The excellent self‐healing properties are achieved through the synergistic effects of hydrogen bonding, π ‐ π bonding, the FRET, and the movement of molecular chains in the polyurethane component.…”

A microcapsule-based reusable self-reporting system using a donor–acceptor Stenhouse adduct

“…Then, the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes, cooled to 0 °C and stirred for a further 30 minutes. The mixture was distilled under reduced pressure to remove the solvent and precipitated with cold ether to obtain compound (2). Yield 71%…”

“…The advent of smart coating technologies marks a paradigm shi in this domain, introducing innovations like self-reporting, self-healing, and self-cleaning systems. [1][2][3][4][5] These advanced systems are key to extending the life cycle of products, ensuring they maintain their integrity and functionality over extended periods.…”