Photomechanical Actuators

Kean ZS, Akbulatov S, Xian Y, Widenhoefer RA, Boulatov R, Craig SL (2014) Photomechanical actuation of ligand geometry in enantioselective catalysis. Angew Chem 126 14736... 

Figure 2.8 Photomechanical actuation of MWNT-elastomer composites, a) Bimodal and reversible actuation of a MWNT-elastomer nanocomposite induced by IR irradiation. Reversible expansion occurs at small pre-strains (top) and reversible contraction at large pre-strains (bottom), b) Response to IR irradiation at different values of pre-strain. Raw data on stress measured at fixed sample length of a 1 wt% MWNT-PDMS nanocomposite (different pre-strain curves labeled on the plot). Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd. ...

S.V. Ahir, E.M. Terentjev, Photomechanical actuation in polymer-nanotube composites. Nature Mater. 4, 491 95 (2005)... 

Abstract The combination of nanomaterials and ordered deformable soft materials is emerging as an enabling system in nanoscience and nanotechnology. In this context, nanomaterial functionalized photoresponsive liquid crystalline polymers are very promising and versatile systems due to their dynamic function. Moreover, the unique characteristic of nanomaterials combined with the mechanical, self-organizing and stimuli-responsive properties of deformable liquid crystalline polymers opens up new and exciting possibilities. In this chapter, we present recent developments of photodeformable behaviors of liquid crystalline polymers functionalized with nanomaterials. The main emphasis revolves around how the physicochemical properties of different nanomaterials modulate the reversible photomechanical behaviors of liquid crystalline polymers and their potential application in devices such as optically controlled switches and soft actuators. 

In recent years, nanotechnology and nanomaterials have been widely used in designing advanced functional materials based on photoresponsive LCPs. Although several reviews have concentrated on the photodeformable effect of LCPs and their applications in soft actuators [22], to date the influence of nanostructures and nanomaterials on the photodeformable properties of LCPs has not been summarized. In this chapter, we mainly focus on the utilization of special nanostructures and amazing physicochemical properties of nanomaterials to manipulate the photomechanical behaviors of LCPs. Fmthermore, their potential applications as light-driven devices and other future prospects are proposed. 

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