Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY
Volume 15, Issue 47, Pages 5043-5048Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/b512655j
Keywords
-
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Well-defined gradients in molecular alignment have been used as tools to generate large amplitude, light-induced deformations in stiff polymer networks. These systems are reversible, monolithic and based on a simple one-step self-assembly process. To fabricate the actuators, diacrylate dopants containing azobenzene moieties were blended with liquid crystalline diacrylate hosts and photopolymerized in a twisted configuration. The resulting twisted networks were heavily crosslinked with room temperature elastic moduli on the order of 1 GPa. Regardless of the temperature with respect to the glass transitions, subsequent exposure to UV radiation induced anisotropic expansion/contraction, and simple variations in geometry were used to generate uniaxial bending or helical coiling deformation modes. Because mechanical energy is directly related to elastic modulus, these systems are expected to provide significantly greater work output than contemporary polymer actuator materials.
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