Self-healable and adhesive polyurethane from soybean oil with reversible disulfide linkages for thermal management

Thermally conductive polymers are crucial for high heat flow density devices. Herein, a novel thermally conductive polyurethane elastomer (SHPU) with reversible disulfide linkages was synthesized from soybean oil polyol (SOP). This elastomer exhibits rapid self-repairing capabilities at room temperature. SHPU also demonstrates superior adhesion to various substrates, such as steel, copper, aluminum, epoxy, and polyvinyl chloride, achieving a particularly high adhesion strength of up to 5.51 MPa on steel substrates. Additionally, based on SHPU elastomer, the typical fillers, alumina (Al₂O₃) and boron nitride (BN), have been incorporated to prepare highly thermally conductive composites, and achieving a high thermal conductivity of 2.31 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ of SHPU/BN composites. Furthermore, SHPU embedded with fillers still maintain remarkable self-healing capability and adhesion. The unique properties of SHPU demonstrate its great potential as an advanced thermally conductive polymer matrix. This study offers new insights into the development of reliable and sustainable thermally conductive materials.