Journal ArticleDOI
Photoswitching of glass transition temperatures of azobenzene-containing polymers induces reversible solid-to-liquid transitions
Hongwei Zhou,Changguo Xue,Philipp Weis,Yasuhito Suzuki,Shilin Huang,Kaloian Koynov,Günter K. Auernhammer,Rüdiger Berger,Hans-Jürgen Butt,Si Wu +9 more
TLDR
It is demonstrated that light can switch the Tg of azobenzene-containing polymers (azopolymers) and induce reversible solid-to-liquid transitions of the polymers, providing a new strategy for designing healable polymers with high Tg and allowing for control over the mechanical properties of polymer with high spatiotemporal resolution.Abstract:
The development of polymers with switchable glass transition temperatures (Tg) can address scientific challenges such as the healing of cracks in high-Tg polymers and the processing of hard polymers at room temperature without using plasticizing solvents. Here, we demonstrate that light can switch the Tg of azobenzene-containing polymers (azopolymers) and induce reversible solid-to-liquid transitions of the polymers. The azobenzene groups in the polymers exhibit reversible cis-trans photoisomerization abilities. Trans azopolymers are solids with Tg above room temperature, whereas cis azopolymers are liquids with Tg below room temperature. Because of the photoinduced solid-to-liquid transitions of these polymers, light can reduce the surface roughness of azopolymer films by almost 600%, repeatedly heal cracks in azopolymers, and control the adhesion of azopolymers for transfer printing. The photoswitching of Tg provides a new strategy for designing healable polymers with high Tg and allows for control over the mechanical properties of polymers with high spatiotemporal resolution.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The influence of the molecular packing on the room temperature phosphorescence of purely organic luminogens.
Jie Yang,Xu Zhen,Bin Wang,Xuming Gao,Zichun Ren,Jiaqiang Wang,Yujun Xie,Jian-Rong Li,Qian Peng,Kanyi Pu,Zhen Li +10 more
TL;DR: It is found that strong π–π interactions in solid state can promote the persistent RTP and CS-CF3 shows the unique photo-induced phosphorescence in response to the changes in molecular packing, further confirming the key influence of the molecular packing on the RTP property.
Journal ArticleDOI
Functional Supramolecular Polymeric Networks: The Marriage of Covalent Polymers and Macrocycle-Based Host-Guest Interactions
Danyu Xia,Pi Wang,Xiaofan Ji,Niveen M. Khashab,Jonathan L. Sessler,Jonathan L. Sessler,Feihe Huang,Feihe Huang +7 more
TL;DR: This Review summarizes advances made in the area of functional SPNs, with a focus on original literature reports appearing in the past five years, and is organized according to the key macrocycle-based host-guest interactions used to produce various SPNs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Photodeformable Azobenzene-Containing Liquid Crystal Polymers and Soft Actuators.
TL;DR: This review focuses on the growing research on photodeformable LCPs, including their basic actuation mechanisms, the various deformation modes, the newly designed molecular structures, and the improvement of processing techniques.
Journal ArticleDOI
Azobenzene-based solar thermal fuels: design, properties, and applications
TL;DR: A state-of-the-art account on the recent advancements in solar thermal fuels based on azobenzene photoswitches and their fundamentals and new perspectives on the future scope, opportunities and challenges are provided.
Journal ArticleDOI
Enlightening Materials with Photoswitches
Alexis Goulet-Hanssens,Alexis Goulet-Hanssens,Alexis Goulet-Hanssens,Fabian Eisenreich,Fabian Eisenreich,Fabian Eisenreich,Stefan Hecht,Stefan Hecht,Stefan Hecht +8 more
TL;DR: Materials with an increasing order of the integrated photoswitchable units are discussed, spanning the range from amorphous settings over surfaces/interfaces and supramolecular ensembles, to liquid crystalline and crystalline phases.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Photoisomerization in different classes of azobenzene
TL;DR: This critical review details the studies completed to date on the 3 main classes of azobenzene derivatives and explains the mechanism behind the isomerization mechanism.
Journal ArticleDOI
Photomechanics: directed bending of a polymer film by light.
TL;DR: It is shown that a single film of a liquid-crystal network containing an azobenzene chromophore can be repeatedly and precisely bent along any chosen direction by using linearly polarized light.
Journal ArticleDOI
Optical Switching and Image Storage by Means of Azobenzene Liquid-Crystal Films
Tomiki Ikeda,Osamu Tsutsumi +1 more
TL;DR: Trans-cis photoisomerization of azobenzene with a laser pulse resulted in a nematic-to-isotropic phase transition with a rapid optical response of 200 microseconds.
Journal ArticleDOI
Optically induced surface gratings on azoaromatic polymer films
TL;DR: In this paper, the surface of an azoaromatic polymer film is optically altered to produce local highly efficient diffraction gratings, which can be erased by heating the polymer above its glass transition temperature and no permanent damage of the film is observed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Laser‐induced holographic surface relief gratings on nonlinear optical polymer films
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors observed holographic surface relief gratings with relatively large amplitude on a second order nonlinear optical polymeric material, which were created upon exposure to polarized Ar+ laser beams at 488 nm without any subsequent processing steps.
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