Journal
ADVANCED MATERIALS
Volume 34, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202200471
Keywords
actuators; light emission; optical waveguides; organic crystals
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [52173164, 51773077]
- New York University Abu Dhabi
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study reports a facile method to prepare cryogenically robust organic crystalline materials that can undergo large, recoverable, and reversible deformation at low temperatures. The materials, formed by combining flexible organic crystals with a polymer coating and a thermally responsive polymer, show linear and reversible responses to temperatures from -15 to -120 degrees C. This approach overcomes the drawbacks of amorphous polymeric materials at low temperatures and provides a cost-effective way to create lightweight devices for low-temperature environments.
Applications in extreme conditions, such as those encountered in space exploration, require lightweight materials that can retain their elasticity in extremely cold environments. However, cryogenic treatment of most soft polymeric and elastomeric materials results in complete loss of their ability for elastic flow, whereby such materials that are normally ductile become stiff, brittle, and prone to cracking. Here, a facile method for preparation of hybrid organic crystalline materials that are not only cryogenically robust but are also capable of large, recoverable, and reversible deformation at low temperatures is reported. To that end, flexible organic crystals are first mechanically reinforced by a polymer coating and combined with a thermally responsive polymer. The resulting hybrid materials respond linearly and reversibly to temperatures from -15 to -120 degrees C without fatigue in air as well as in cold vacuum. The approach proposed here not only circumvents one of the main drawbacks that are inherent to the amorphous nature and has thus far limited the applications of polymeric materials at low temperatures, but it also provides a cost-effective access to a myriad of lightweight sensing, electronic, optical or actuating devices that can operate in low-temperature environmental settings.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available