title: Light-Stimulated Permanent Shape Reconfiguration in Cross-Linked Polymer Microparticles.
abstract: Reconfiguring the permanent shape of elastomeric microparticles has been impossible due to the incapability of plastic deformation in these materials. To address this limitation, we synthesize the first instance of microparticles comprising a covalent adaptable network (CAN). CANs are cross-linked polymer networks capable of reconfiguring their network topology, enabling stress relaxation and shape changing behaviors, and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) is the corresponding dynamic chemistry used in this work to enable CAN-based microparticles. Using nanoimprint lithography to apply controllable deformations we demonstrate that upon light stimulation microparticles are able to reconfigure their shape to permanently fix large aspect ratios and nanoscale surface topographies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0427, United States.|Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.|Applied Chemicals and Materials Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology , Boulder, Colorado 80305, United States.
authors.forename: Lewis Michael
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5830-3819
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0427, United States.|CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0985-3221
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.|Material Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sowan
authors.affiliation: Applied Chemicals and Materials Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology , Boulder, Colorado 80305, United States.
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Killgore
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0427, United States.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Heng-An
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.|Material Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Bowman
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0427, United States.|Material Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0596, United States.
authors.forename: Yifu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
keywords: covalent adaptive network; microparticles; photoplasticity; shape reconfiguration; smart particles