Self-healing is the capability of a material to recover from physical damage. Both physical and chemical approaches have been used to construct self-healing polymers. These include diffusion and flow, shape-memory effects, heterogeneous self-healing systems, covalent-bond reformation and reshuffling, dynamics of supramolecular chemistry or combinations thereof. In this Review, we discuss the similarities and differences between approaches to achieve self-healing in synthetic polymers, where possible placing this discussion in the context of biological systems. In particular, we highlight the role of thermal transitions, network heterogeneities, localized chemical reactions enabling the reconstruction of damage and physical reshuffling. We also discuss energetic and length-scale considerations, as well as scientific and technological challenges and opportunities.

自修复是材料从物理损坏中恢复的能力。物理和化学方法都已被用于构建自修复聚合物。这些包括扩散和流动，形状记忆效应，异构的自我修复系统，共价键重整和改组，超分子化学动力学或其组合。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了在合成聚合物中实现自我修复的方法之间的异同，并在可能的情况下将这一讨论置于生物系统的背景下。尤其是，我们强调了热转变，网络异质性，局部化学反应的作用，从而能够重建破坏和物理改组。我们还讨论了能量和长度比例因素，