Title: A Liquid Crystal Polymer with Thermally-Induced Deformation and Reversible Fluorescence Switching

Author: Xin Zhao, Ziyue Yang, Xiaoyu Zhang, Xiaojun Liu, Yu Pu, Lang Qin, Jia Wei*, Yanlei Yu*

Journal: Adv. Optical Mater., 2025, 2403469

Abstract:

Stimuli-responsive liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) hold significant promises as materials for designing multifunctional soft actuators. Recently, this group explored a novel strategy to develop a multi-responsive LCP by combining ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with post-polymerization modification (PPM). The current study aims to advance the approach to design an LCP capable of thermally-induced deformation and fluorescence switching. ROMP is first employed to synthesize a reactive linear LCP precursor containing aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) with excellent processability, enabling the preparation of arbitrary shapes through various processing techniques. Subsequently, PPM is responsible for anchoring the mesogen alignment of the as-prepared film and fiber geometries. The obtained cross-linked LCP films and fibers undergo contraction, bending, unfolding and rolling with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the disruption of mesogen at high temperature weakens the restriction of AIEgen motions, facilitating the switching of the fluorescence property of LCPs. This material design combines the diverse fabrication opportunities, advanced actuation capabilities, and the tunable emission properties of AIEgens, while also enabling the visualization of the actuator's state.

论文链接：https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.202403469

PDF下载：A Liquid Crystal Polymer with Thermally-Induced Deformation and Reversible Fluorescence Switching.pdf

具有变形及变色功能的液晶聚合物可用于构筑兼具驱动与反馈功能的软体机器，本研究借助液晶基元的液晶相-各向同性相转变，在获得良好形变的同时带来颜色变化从而实现以上功能。首先，我们通过开环易位聚合（ROMP）制备得到具有优异加工性的液晶聚合物前驱体，在LCP中引入具有聚集诱导发光（AIE）性质的荧光基团和反应性五氟苯酯基团，分别赋予热响应LCP荧光变色性能和活性交联位点；其次，我们利用线型前驱体的良好加工性，将其编程为具有良好液晶取向1D至3D执行器，通过聚合后修饰（PPM）固定材料中液晶基元的取向和宏观形状，实现了驱动性能与荧光强度变化的可视化，为构筑多模态、多功能LCP软体机器人提供材料基础。