Photoprogrammable Moisture-Responsive Actuation of a Shape Memory Polymer Film

Humidity-responsive polymeric actuators have gained considerable interest due to their great potential in the fields including soft robotics, artificial muscles, smart sensors, and actuators. However, most of them can only exhibit invariable shape changes, which severely restricts their further exploration and practical use. Herein, we report that programmable humidity-responsive actuating behaviors can be realized by introducing photoprogrammable hygroscopic patterns into shape memory polymers. Poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) is selected as a model polymer and the solvent-processed thin films are soft and elastic, whose external shapes can be programmed by a modified shape memory process. On another aspect, an Fe3+-carboxylate coordinating network formed by surface treatments can be spatially dissociated under UV, resulting in transient hygroscopic gradients as active joints for moisture-driven actuation. Moreover, we show that the shape memory effect can be an effective means to adjust the direction as well as the amplitude of the moisture-driven actuating behavior. The proposed strategy is convenient and can be generally extended to other shape memory polymers to realize programmable moisture-responsive actuating behaviors.

Automated summary

This study reports on a method to achieve programmable humidity-responsive actuating behaviors by introducing photoprogrammable hygroscopic patterns into shape memory polymers. The researchers found that by treating the polymer surface to form an Fe3+-carboxylate coordinating network, transient hygroscopic gradients can be generated under UV light, driving the deformation of the polymer. Furthermore, the shape memory effect can be effectively used to adjust the direction and amplitude of the moisture-driven actuating behavior.