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Exploiting photopolymerization to modulate liquid crystalline network actuation

delete2025-01-01
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OA
AI
M
Marco Turriani
N
Niccolò Cosottini
N
Neri Fuochi
D
Diederik S. Wiersma
D
Daniele Martella
DOI：10.1039/d4sm01360cdelete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Liquid Crystalline Networks (LCNs) are widely investigated to develop actuators, from soft robots to artificial muscles. Indeed, they can produce forces and movements in response to a plethora of external stimuli, showing kinetics up to the millisecond time-scale. One of the most explored preparation technique involves the photopolymerization of an aligned layer of reactive mesogens. Following this approach, side-chain polymers are widely described, while a detailed comparison of light-responsive LCNs with different architectures is not properly addressed. In this paper, two synthetic approaches are exploited leading to photoresponsive LCNs with different architectures. Mixed main-chain/side-chain LCNs are obtained in one-pot through a thiol-acrylate chain-transfer reaction, while main-chain LCNs are achieved by a two-step approach involving an aza-Michael addition followed by acrylate crosslinking. Comparison among the two materials highlighted the superior performances in terms of tension developed upon light-activation of the former one, showing muscle-like force production comparable to standard side-chain LCNs combined with the greater ability to contract from common main-chain LCNs.
Keywords:
POLYMER NETWORKS
ELASTOMERS
HYDROGELS

Journal

Soft Matter cover
Soft Matter
IF:
2.8
Papers:
1.3K
Citations:
4.0W

Organization

No organization information available