The Synergistic Effects between Liquid Crystal and Crystalline Phase on Photo-Responsive Elastomers toward Quick...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• Designing photo-responsive materials with high performance and flexibility is challenging.
• Azobenzene molecules offer reversible isomerism under light but traditional applications are concentration-limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel azobenzene liquid-crystal elastomers (ALCEs) with enhanced photo-responsive properties.
• To investigate the synergistic effects between liquid crystal and crystalline phases in ALCEs.

Main Methods:

• Incorporating azobenzene molecules into polyurethane elastomers with crystalline structures.
• Utilizing the reversible isomerism of azobenzene under UV and green light irradiation.
• Characterizing the photo-responsive behavior, including bending speed, angle, and recovery.

Main Results:

• The synthesized ALCEs exhibit rapid bending under UV light and straightening under green light.
• ALCEs with crystalline structures show significantly improved bending speed, final bending angle, recovery rate, and recovery ratio compared to those without.
• Demonstrated synergistic effects between liquid crystal and crystalline phases driving macroscopic deformation.

Conclusions:

• The developed ALCEs overcome the concentration limitations of traditional azobenzene photo-responsive materials.
• The synergistic effect between liquid crystal and crystalline phases offers a new design strategy for advanced photo-responsive materials.
• These ALCEs have expanded design possibilities and application scope in photo-responsive technologies.