Preparation of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-terminated carbon nanotubes and determining their aggregation properties in response to infrared light and heating

Tamesue, Shingo; Hasegawa, Suguru; Ishizaki, Ryota; Hashimoto, Kumi; Mitsumata, Tetsu; Tsubokawa, Norio; Yamauchi, Takeshi

doi:10.1038/pj.2015.47

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…[1,2] Hydrogels with a switchable volume are of particular interest: these change size dramatically upon or by functionalizing CNTs such that polymer growth and crosslinking are initiated directly on the nanotube. [55][56][57][58][59][60][61] The presence of CNTs has so far been used to improve hydrogel response times by enhancing mass transport of water via increased porosity of CNT/hydrogel composites, [21] add light responsivity [21,60,[62][63][64] and electrical conductivity, [50,55,59,65,66] and improve mechanical properties. [50][51][52]54,56] A unique opportunity offered by CNTs that is under-explored in hydrogel composites is the ability to assemble aligned CNTs into 3D structures by using a combination of lithography and chemical vapor deposition of CNTs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light‐Actuated Anisotropic Microactuators from CNT/Hydrogel Nanocomposites

Gregg

Volder

Baumberg

2022

Advanced Optical Materials

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Over the past decades, functional hydrogels that respond to a variety of mechanical and chemical stimuli with a volume change of more than 100% have been developed. Despite this impressive behavior, practical applications of conventional hydrogels are limited by the need to transform their isotropic swelling/contraction into useful deformations, as well as their slow response times. Here, these challenges are addressed by combining poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), a widely used temperature‐responsive polymer, with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). To ensure strong PNIPAM−CNT cohesion, the hydrogel is synthesized directly on the CNT surfaces using in situ redox polymerization. The anisotropy of vertically‐aligned CNT forests is used to transform the isotropic (de)swelling of PNIPAM into anisotropic motion. This material combination is particularly attractive because the high optical absorption and heat conductivity of carbon nanotubes converts light irradiation into PNIPAM actuation. A wide variety of CNT‐skeleton microstructures are tested to reveal a range of actuation behaviors. The authors demonstrate fast reversible movement, active switching from low to high light absorption states, lattice shape changes, and good cycling stability.

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