High-Performance Elastomer with Excellent Resistance to Low Temperature, Aging and Solvent

Elastomers are essential for a variety of demanding applications, but their performance is significantly compromised under harsh conditions, such as extremely low temperatures and serious aging. Herein, a novel polyurethane elastomer (PFTA) is presented, having perfluoropolyether as the soft segment and catechol-containing molecules synthesized via Schiff base reaction as the chain extender, where the perfluoropolyether segments confer outstanding low-temperature and solvent resistance and the catechol groups provide exceptional anti-aging properties to the material. As a result, the obtained elastomer achieves an ultralow glass transition temperature of approximately −115 °C, demonstrating remarkable flexibility at extremely low temperatures, even in a liquid nitrogen environment, and possesses good aging and solvent resistance. These results highlight that the combination of catechol functionalization and perfluoropolyether segments provides a promising platform for the development of elastomers suitable for extreme environmental applications, such as aerospace and polar exploration.