Abstract
Coatings serve as a critical barrier to protect substrates from corrosion, wear, and environmental degradation. Their ability to repair damage directly influences the service life of materials. Traditional coatings lack self-healing capabilities, making them susceptible to rapid performance degradation from micro-damage. Inspired by biological self-healing mechanisms, self-healing coatings have been developed. Among these, photothermal self-healing coatings have gained significant research interest due to their remote, precise, and controllable repair characteristics. This review systematically summarizes the healing mechanisms, material system design, and research progress of photothermal self-healing coatings. It focuses on the roles of carbon-based materials, MXenes, organic materials, and nanoparticles in photothermal conversion and repair behavior. The application prospects in aerospace, marine engineering, electronic devices, and other fields are discussed, along with future challenges. The advancement of photothermal self-healing coatings provides important theoretical support and technical pathways for designing high-performance intelligent protective materials.
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