Reconfiguring the permanent shape of chemically crosslinked polymers has been impossible due to the incapability for plastic deformation in these materials. Recent progresses in covalent adaptive network (CAN) chemistry can overcome this limitation. CANs are cross-linked polymer networks that are capable of reconfiguring their network topology, which enables stress relaxation and shape changing behaviors while maintain the degree of crosslinking. In this presentation, we show that CAN polymers based on reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) mechanism can effectively allow us to permanently reconfigure the polymer surface topography as well as the overall shapes of CAN-based microspheres. The shape-reconfiguration process is carried out using a combined UV and thermal-embossing nanoimprinting lithography, where the polymer network rearrangement is triggered by UV radiation under controlled thermo-mechanical deformation. We demonstrate that the degree of shape reconfiguration can be reliably controlled by the NIL-process parameters and the composition of the CAN polymers.

Light-stimulated permanent shape reconfiguration in crosslinked polymer surfaces and microparticles

255th National Meeting (2018)

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