Narrow response temperature range with excellent reversible shape memory effect for semi-crystalline networks as soft actuators

Chi, Dequan; Gu, Haoyu; Wang, Jingfeng; Wu, Chao; Wang, Ruijie; Cheng, Zhongjun; Zhang, Dongjie; Xie, Zhiyuan; Liu, Yuyan

doi:10.1039/d3mh00270e

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…35,36 This unique dynamic feature enables broad applications in biomedical engineering, such as deployable scaffolds. 37–40 Although SMPs have been widely researched for biomedical applications, a crucial issue is they always show a fast recovery once receiving the right stimulus, which limits their applications in clinical practice. 41 This situation is also encountered by the SMP-based substrates for cell fate manipulation, such a substrate may exhibit a fast recovery at the standard temperature for cell culture (37 °C), which does not well coincide with cell growth period, complicating the cell culture and regulation process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micropatterned shape-memory polymer substrate containing hydrogen bonds creates a long-term dynamic microenvironment for regulating nerve-cell fate

Wang,

Liu,

Wang

et al. 2024

J. Mater. Chem. B

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micropatterned shape-memory polymer substrate containing hydrogen bonds creates a long-term dynamic microenvironment for regulating nerve-cell fate

Wang,

Liu,

Wang

et al. 2024

J. Mater. Chem. B

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“…In the preparation of semicrystalline 2W-SMPs, copolymerization is often used to tailor the amorphous and/or crystallizable segments in the networks. − For instance, it has been reported that copolymerization of PCL with cocrystallizable PPDL or poly(octylene adipate) could effectively tune the actuation temperature, while copolymerization of PCL with amorphous n -butyl acrylate could broaden the melting transition and enable tuning the reversible strain simply by setting a partial-melting temperature. However, the copolymerization process is generally sophisticated, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Tunable Stress-Free Reversible Shape-Memory Effect in a Cross-Linked Cocrystallizable Polymer Blend

Zhang,

Wu,

Qin

et al. 2024

Macromolecules

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Semicrystalline polymers are promising candidates for preparing reversible or two-way shape-memory polymer (SMP) networks. However, there is a lack of facile and effective strategies for improving and tuning the stress-free reversible shape-memory effect (rSME) in semicrystalline networks. This paper reported such a strategy based on melt-blending and cross-linking of cocrystallizable polymers. Specifically, we constructed several blended networks by melt-blending and cross-linking of the cocrystallizable poly(ethylene−propylene−diene monomer) (EPDM) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). The blended networks show an ultrabroad melting transition ranging from −25 to 120 °C and demonstrate significantly enhanced tunable stress-free rSME compared to the EPDM and LLDPE networks. It is revealed that the EPDM can be physically cross-linked by a small amount of LLDPE due to the cocrystallization. The cocrystals can work as dynamic cross-linkages to help fix the orientation and enhance the crystallization-induced elongation of the EPDM chains, which is the main reason for the enhanced tunable stress-free rSME. The melt-blending of cocrystallizable polymers provides a facile way for tailoring both the chain orientation and the mobility of semicrystalline networks, opening up new opportunities for designing and developing high-performance and tunable reversible SMPs.

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“…Hydrogel actuators, which are soft and wet, similar to living organisms, can respond to various external stimuli, such as heat [7][8][9][10], pH [11][12][13], light [14][15][16][17][18][19], and chemicals [20][21][22] to achieve controllable and reversible shape formation. Therefore, they have shown promising applications including use in soft robots, artificial muscles, valves, and so on.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bio-Inspired Hydrogel–Elastomer Actuator with Bidirectional Bending and Dynamic Structural Color

Xia,

Meng,

et al. 2023

Molecules

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In nature, some creatures can change their body shapes and surface colors simultaneously to respond to the external environments, which greatly inspired researchers in the development of color-tunable soft actuators. In this work, we present a facile method to prepare a smart hydrogel actuator that can bend bidirectionally and change color simultaneously, just like an octopus. The actuator is fabricated by elastomer/hydrogel bilayer and the hydrogel layer was decorated with thermoresponsive microgels as the photonic crystal blocks. Compared with the previously reported poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel-based bilayer hydrogel actuators, which are generally limited to one-directional deformation, the elastomer/hydrogel bilayer actuator prepared in our work exhibits unique bidirectional bending behavior in accordance with the change of structural color. The bending degrees can be changed from −360° to 270° in response to solution temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 60 °C. At the same time, the surface color changes from red to green, and then to blue, covering the full visible light spectrum. The bending direction and degree of the hydrogel actuator can easily be adjusted by tuning the layer thickness ratio of the elastomer/hydrogel or the composition of the hydrogel. The color-tunable hydrogel-elastomer actuator reported in this work can achieve both programmable deformations and color-changing highly resembling the natural actuating behaviors of creatures.

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Narrow response temperature range with excellent reversible shape memory effect for semi-crystalline networks as soft actuators

Abstract: Complex and controlled reversible actuation inevitably relies on changing thermal fields (direct or indirect) for semicrystalline reversible shape memory networks. Unfortunately, the non-tunability of thermal signals often brings potential limitations...

Cited by 8 publications

References 55 publications

Micropatterned shape-memory polymer substrate containing hydrogen bonds creates a long-term dynamic microenvironment for regulating nerve-cell fate

Micropatterned shape-memory polymer substrate containing hydrogen bonds creates a long-term dynamic microenvironment for regulating nerve-cell fate

Enhanced Tunable Stress-Free Reversible Shape-Memory Effect in a Cross-Linked Cocrystallizable Polymer Blend

Bio-Inspired Hydrogel–Elastomer Actuator with Bidirectional Bending and Dynamic Structural Color

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