Materials adapting their shape reversibly to external stimuli have gathered increasing attention for a range of applications in medicine and robotics.<sup> </sup>Photoresponsive systems especially have shown promise through the facile and benign nature of their trigger. In this work we present a new light-responsive polymer system and use this platform to compare a range of different photoswitches from the well-established azobenzene’s to the novel Donor-Acceptor Stenhouse adducts. These studies focus on evaluating the ability of photoswitches to create mechanical force in a polymer network upon exposure to light. Choosing different photoswitches and their respective derivatives enables activation using wide range of wavelengths between 300 nm and 700 nm.

Developing a platform to evaluate photoswitches and their mechanical work

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.