Light-Sensitive Smart Polymers

In the last two decades, the development of poljoners which change their structures and properties in response to environmental stimuli such as pH, temperature, and light has attracted a great deal of attention (1-3). Such polymers have been called smart polymers, intelligent polymers, stimulus-sensitive pol3uners, or responsive polymers. They have been used in many applications, ranging from bioactive agent delivery to separation (4,5). Various delivery systems based on the smart polymers have been proposed because of their... 

Analogous to light-induced effects, moisture sensitive shape polymers are interesting materials to use as smart materials at constant temperatures because it is not necessary to apply heat to obtain shape transition. In this manner they can be used in biological systems where the heat can produce tissue damage (Du and Zhang, 2010 Huang et al, 2010). 

Herein, we unveil a unique compression system using shape memory polymer (SMP) to counter the above problems. SMPs are smart materials that can memorize the original shape so that they can recover from a temporary deformed shape upon exposure to an external stimulus, eg, heat, light, water, etc. SMPs have gained scientific significance over the last 10 years in the development of many potentially innovative products [7—11]. At present, thermally sensitive SMPs are successfully employed in many... 

Applications of conducting polymers include batteries (2), antistatic transparent films to protect sensitive microelectronic devices (2), antistatic fabrics (3), and sensors (4). Moreover, conducting polymers that change color when oxidized or reduced are the basis of smart windows (3). Blends of electrically conducting polymers have also been developed for applications such as rechargeable batteries (5), chemical and optical sensors (6), nonlinear optical devices (7), and light-emitting diodes (8). 

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