Photo-responsive liquid crystalline epoxy networks with exchangeable disulfide bonds

Yuzhan Li, Yuehong Zhang, Orlando Rios, Jong K. Keum, Michael R. Kessler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

The increasing demand for intelligent materials has driven the development of polymers with a variety of functionalities. However, combining multiple functionalities within one polymer is still challenging because of the difficulties encountered in coordinating different functional building blocks during fabrication. In this work, we demonstrate the fabrication of a multifunctional liquid crystalline epoxy network (LCEN) using the combination of thermotropic liquid crystals, photo-responsive azobenzene molecules, and exchangeable disulfide bonds. In addition to shape memory behavior enabled by the reversible liquid crystalline phase transition and photo-induced bending behavior resulting from the photo-responsive azobenzene molecules, the introduction of dynamic disulfide bonds into the LCEN resulted in a structurally dynamic network, allowing the reshaping, repairing, and recycling of the material.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)37248-37254
Number of pages7
JournalRSC Advances
Volume7
Issue number59
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Funding

The majority of this work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Award FA-9550-12-1-0108). In addition, a portion of the research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Division of Scientific User Facilities, U.S. Department of Energy, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy. Also, some of the research was sponsored by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Advanced Manufacturing Office, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC.

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