Near-infrared-responsive gold nanorod/liquid crystalline elastomer composites prepared by sequential thiol-click chemistry

Yang, Hong; Liu, Jian-Jian; Wang, Zhifei; Le, Guo; Keller, Patrick; Lin, Baoping; Sun, Ying; Zhang, Xueqin

doi:10.1039/c5cc02599k

Cited by 82 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…In order to control the actuation of LCPs in a remotely controlled and precisely manipulated way, light has been employed to trigger the order–disorder transition of liquid‐crystal mesogens. To this end, using the photothermal effect is effective and convenient, which consists of doping the LCP matrix with a light‐absorbing and heat‐releasing active species, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, polydopamine nanoparticles, organic dyes, conjugated polymers, and gold nanocrystals . On the other hand, for LCPs containing azobenzene mesogens, the reversible trans – cis photoisomerization of the photoswitch has been extensively explored for LCP actuators that can perform sophisticated biomimetic motions, such as bending, rolling, walking, swimming,[1a,22] oscillating, twisting, and making waves .…”

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confidence: 99%

Liquid‐Crystalline Dynamic Networks Doped with Gold Nanorods Showing Enhanced Photocontrol of Actuation

et al. 2018

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A near-infrared-light (NIR)- and UV-light-responsive polymer nanocomposite is synthesized by doping polymer-grafted gold nanorods into azobenzene liquid-crystalline dynamic networks (AuNR-ALCNs). The effects of the two different photoresponsive mechanisms, i.e., the photochemical reaction of azobenzene and the photothermal effect from the surface plasmon resonance of the AuNRs, are investigated by monitoring both the NIR- and UV-light-induced contraction forces of the oriented AuNR-ALCNs. By taking advantage of the material's easy processability, bilayer-structured actuators can be fabricated to display photocontrollable bending/unbending directions, as well as localized actuations through programmed alignment of azobenzene mesogens in selected regions. Versatile and complex motions enabled by the enhanced photocontrol of actuation are demonstrated, including plastic "athletes" that can execute light-controlled push-ups or sit-ups, and a light-driven caterpillar-inspired walker that can crawl forward on a ratcheted substrate at a speed of about 13 mm min . Moreover, the photomechanical effects arising from the two types of light-triggered molecular motion, i.e., the trans-cis photoisomerization and a liquid-crystalline-isotropic phase transition of the azobenzene mesogens, are added up to design a polymer "crane" that is capable of performing light-controlled, robot-like, concerted macroscopic motions including grasping, lifting up, lowering down, and releasing an object.

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confidence: 99%

Liquid‐Crystalline Dynamic Networks Doped with Gold Nanorods Showing Enhanced Photocontrol of Actuation

et al. 2018

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“…1b,c. The top layer, also assigned as the main skeleton, possesses a uniaxially aligned LCE matrix incorporated with azobenzene chromophores and a near-infrared absorbing dye, so that the main skeleton of this material can execute bending under ultraviolet stimulus and shrinking under near-infrared stimulus40 because of the azobenzene cis – trans isomerization effect and the photothermal heating effect214142434445464748, which would induce the LC-to-isotropic phase transition, respectively, whereas the bottom monodomain LCE layer, which was obliquely glued on the main skeleton, has no azobenzene moieties but the near-infrared dye, so that it can only respond to near-infrared stimulus, and contributed a twisting power for the whole material to helically curl, because the shrinkage directions of the top and bottom layer are tilted to each other. The different overlapped angles between the top and bottom layers (45° or −45°) can force the material to perform right-handed or left-handed helical curling.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A plant tendril mimic soft actuator with phototunable bending and chiral twisting motion modes

Wang¹,

Lin²,

Yang³

2016

Nat Commun

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222

131

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In nature, plant tendrils can produce two fundamental motion modes, bending and chiral twisting (helical curling) distortions, under the stimuli of sunlight, humidity, wetting or other atmospheric conditions. To date, many artificial plant-like mechanical machines have been developed. Although some previously reported materials could realize bending or chiral twisting through tailoring the samples into various ribbons along different orientations, each single ribbon could execute only one deformation mode. The challenging task is how to endow one individual plant tendril mimic material with two different, fully tunable and reversible motion modes (bending and chiral twisting). Here we show a dual-layer, dual-composition polysiloxane-based liquid crystal soft actuator strategy to synthesize a plant tendril mimic material capable of performing two different three-dimensional reversible transformations (bending versus chiral twisting) through modulation of the wavelength band of light stimuli (ultraviolet versus near-infrared). This material has broad application prospects in biomimetic control devices.

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“…It was found that gold nanorod is a good candidate for the development of LC elastomer based high‐performance photothermal actuators. Yang et al prepared GNR containing LC elastomer composites using thiol‐click chemistry . These elastomeric composites exhibited responsiveness to NIR and underwent nematic to isotropic phase transition under NIR irradiation.…”

Section: Liquid Crystals Driven By Photothermal Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Materials Driven by Photothermal Effect and Their Applications

Bisoyi

Urbas

2018

Advanced Optical Materials

128

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Remote driving of functional hybrid soft materials for various applications is emerging as an enabling pursuit. Toward this end, soft materials driven by photothermal agents have been attracting tremendous attention from both fundamental science and technological applications points of view. These stimuli‐responsive materials combine the beneficial attributes of both classes of promising materials, i.e., soft materials and photothermal agents. Both inorganic and organic photothermal agents have been incorporated into the matrices of soft materials. Metal nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials, and organic photothermal agents have been impregnated into the matrices of liquid crystals, polymers, and gels that can be remotely driven by light irradiation. In this review, the remote driving of functional hybrid soft materials and their various applications are discussed. Photothermal functional nanocomposites are demonstrated to act as actuators, therapeutic agents, drug delivery systems, microvalves, etc. Smart and adaptive systems are realized by dispersing photothermal agents into soft matter matrices. Challenges and opportunities in this fascinating frontier are outlined.

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Near-infrared-responsive gold nanorod/liquid crystalline elastomer composites prepared by sequential thiol-click chemistry

Cited by 82 publications

References 61 publications

Liquid‐Crystalline Dynamic Networks Doped with Gold Nanorods Showing Enhanced Photocontrol of Actuation

Liquid‐Crystalline Dynamic Networks Doped with Gold Nanorods Showing Enhanced Photocontrol of Actuation

A plant tendril mimic soft actuator with phototunable bending and chiral twisting motion modes

Soft Materials Driven by Photothermal Effect and Their Applications

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