Nature Communications (Aug 2018)

Light-induced mechanical response in crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymers with photoswitchable glass transition temperatures

  • Youfeng Yue,
  • Yasuo Norikane,
  • Reiko Azumi,
  • Emiko Koyama

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05744-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Energy conversion of light into mechanical work is of fundamental interest for a wide range of applications, but the development of efficient light responsive polymers is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate photoswitchable glass transition temperatures contribute to the photomechanical bending in a crosslinked azobenzene polymer.