基于液晶聚合物的光致形变复合材料

Photodeformable Composite Materials Based on Liquid Crystalline Polymers

可变形液晶聚合物是近年来的研究热点,它们在人造肌肉、软机器人和智能光学设备等智能软系统的开发中表现出巨大潜力。然而,传统热响应液晶聚合物的应用通常受到聚合物基体的低热导率以及对外部加热装置高度依赖性的限制。相比之下,光控方法具有许多优点,包括具有非接触式、远程原位以及精确操纵的能力,这有助于开发各种不受限制且可远程操作的智能软器件。最近,通过引入有机或无机光响应组分作为功能添加剂来开发光控可变形液晶聚合物有许多重要进展。其中,通过功能模块、液晶相和聚合物基质之间的相互作用,所引入组分的多种功能可以与液晶聚合物的定向变形行为相结合。本文将重点介绍掺入光敏有机染料或无机纳米组分的可光操作液晶聚合物复合体系的设计策略、制造方法和工作原理,并简要总结它们可能的应用和未来的发展。

Deformable liquid crystalline polymers have attracted a lot of research interests in recent years, because of the great potentials in the development of intelligent soft systems such as artificial muscles, soft robots and smart optical devices. However, the response of conventional liquid crystalline polymers is based on thermal control methods, which limits the applications due to the low thermal conductivity of the polymer matrix and the high dependence on external heating devices. In contrast, the light control method has shown many advantages, including non-contact, remote in-situ, and precise manipulation capabilities, which could contribute to developing diverse unrestricted and remotely operable smart soft devices. Recently, there have been many important advances in the development of photodeformable liquid crystalline polymers fabricated by introducing organic or/and inorganic light-responsive components as functional additives. Among them, the multiple functions of the introduced components can be easily combined with the orientational deformation behavior of the liquid crystalline polymer through the interaction among the functional module, the liquid crystal phase and the polymer matrix. Here, this review focuses on the design strategy, manufacturing method and working principle of the photo-manipulatable liquid crystalline polymer composite systems incorporated with light-sensitive components. Moreover, the possible applications and future development are briefly summarized at the end of the review.