title: Tetracarboxylated Azobenzene/Polymer Supramolecular Assemblies as High-Performance Multiresponsive Actuators.
abstract: Multistimuli-responsive polymers are materials of emerging interest but synthetically challenging. In this work, supramolecular assembly was employed as a facile and effective approach for constructing 3,3',5,5'-azobenzenetetracarboxylic acid (H4abtc)/poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDAC) supramolecules. Structural transformations of H4abtc can be induced by light, mechanical force, and heat and influenced by free volume. Thus, the fabricated free-standing H4abtc/PDAC film underwent bending/unbending movements upon treatment with light, humidity, or temperature, as asymmetric structural transformations on either side of the film generated asymmetric contraction/stretching forces. Fast rates of shape recovery were achieved for the film on exposure to gently flowing humid nitrogen. The bending/unbending motions are controllable, reversible, and repeatable. Hence, this light-, humido-, and thermo-responsive film has great potential in device applications for advanced functions.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Chengqun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.|Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300072, P. R China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Yiyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Haoran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Junkai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, P. R China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, P. R China.|Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300072, P. R China.|Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072, P. R China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5816-7343
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feng
keywords: actuator; azobenzene; multistimuli-responsive polymers; polyelectrolytes; supramolecular chemistry