Tunable Light-Responsive Polyurethane-urea Elastomer Driven by Photochemical and Photothermal Coupling Mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Light-driven soft actuators based on photoresponsive materials can be used to mimic biological motion, such as hand movements, without involving rigid or bulky electromechanical actuations. However, to our knowledge, no robust photoresponsive material with desireable mechanical and biological properties and relatively simple manufacture exists for robotics and biomedical applications. Herein, we report a new visible-light-responsive thermoplastic elastomer synthesized by introducing photoswitchable moieties (i.e., azobenzene derivatives) into the main chain of poly(ε-caprolactone) based polyurethane urea (PAzo). A PAzo elastomer exhibits controllable light-driven stiffness softening due to its unique nanophase structure in response to light, while possessing excellent hyperelasticity (stre

SUBMITTER: Wu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11040532 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature