Solvent drying rate of azobenzene/acetone solution coating was tunable by linearly polarized UV light. The light exposure promotes the photo-induced conformational change of azobenzene from its trans to its cis form, as well as the molecular alignment perpendicular to a polarization direction. Drying experiments of the photoresponsive solutions revealed that angled irradiation of s-polarized light showed a peculiar angle-dependent drying behavior, while no dependence was observed for the p-polarized light irradiation. The photo-induced solvent drying was observed in a particular range of azobenzene weight fractions and UV light intensities, suggesting a promising way to tune solvent drying rates by light.
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