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Reactive Vapor Deposition of Conjugated Polymer Films on Arbitrary Substrates
Published on: January 17, 2018
Reversible Semicrystalline Polymer as Actuators Driven by Organic Solvent Vapor
Guohui Hou1, Fengle Wang1, Zhe Qu1
1Department of Engineering Mechanics, AML, Center for Mechanics and Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Abstract:
A semicrystalline polymer actuator, which is responsive to solvent vapor with fast and large scale locomotion, is described. The thermoset semicrystalline polymer can be easily synthesized from crystallizable polyester segment poly (ε-caprolactone) and isophorone diisocyanate trimer. Organic solvent vapor is used to induce the reversible swelling-crystallization conversion of the crystallizable polyester segment, resulting in its expansion/shrinkage. The contraction of the polymer actuator (1 mm thick) needs only ≈4 s in room temperature. When exposed to air the polymer actuator can exhibit a fast self-oscillation. Then, a soft crawler based on this polymer is demonstrated. Driven by organic solvent it walks rapidly and steadily. The microscope images show the fast swelling-crystallization conversion that gives rise to reversible shape changes of the polymer.
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