Title: Photoinduced Deformation of Amorphous Polyimide Enabled by An Improved Azobenzene Isomerization Efficiency

Author: Xuejie Sun, Jia Wei*, Yanlei Yu*

Journal: Polym. Chem., 2022, 13, 5447-5452 (Front Cover)

Abstract:

Photodeformable azobenzene-containing polyimides (azo-PIs) have attracted attention due to their photo-response, good mechanical properties, and thermal stability. The deformation principle of azo-PIs mainly depends on the accumulation of conformational changes in one direction by polarized-light irradiation or pre-stretching. Herein, we synthesize a new deformable azo-PI and put forward a different strategy to achieve photodeformation by improving the azobenzene isomerization efficiency, which is attributed to the incorporation of azobenzene into the side chains of the polyimide (s-azo-PI). The s-azo-PI film exhibits reversible bending behaviour under alternate ultraviolet and visible light irradiation without using polarized light or pre-stretching. By means of this photodeformable behaviour, origami- or kirigami-inspired deformable 3D-structure objects, such as a cubic box and roller, are easily manufactured without any prior treatment, showing the potential to broaden the application of azopolymers in smart 3D actuators.

论文链接：https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/py/d2py00691j

PDF下载：Photoinduced Deformation of Amorphous Polyimide Enabled by An Improved Azobenzene Isomerization Efficiency.pdf

本工作提出了一种通过将偶氮苯引入到聚酰亚胺侧链来提高其异构化效率，从而实现光致形变的新策略。由此制备的聚酰亚胺薄膜在热压胺化完成后不需要任何预处理（如取向）即可在紫外光和可见光的交替照射下表现出可逆的弯曲行为。这种光致形变行为简化了可变形3D结构执行器的加工过程，拓宽了偶氮苯聚合物在智能3D驱动器领域的潜在应用。