Light-Driven Reversible Shaping of Individual Azopolymeric Micro-Pillars

Azopolymers are known to exhibit a strong light responsivity known as athermal photofluidization. Although the underlying physics is still under debate, athermal photofluidization has been demonstrated to trigger mass-migration according to the polarization of a proper illumination light. Here, a po...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-08, Vol.6 (1), p.31702-31702, Article 31702
Main Authors: Pirani, Federica, Angelini, Angelo, Frascella, Francesca, Rizzo, Riccardo, Ricciardi, Serena, Descrovi, Emiliano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
142/126
639/301/923/1028
639/624/399/1028
Humanities and Social Sciences
Illumination
Migration
multidisciplinary
Polarization
Polymer blends
Polymers
Science
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Summary:Azopolymers are known to exhibit a strong light responsivity known as athermal photofluidization. Although the underlying physics is still under debate, athermal photofluidization has been demonstrated to trigger mass-migration according to the polarization of a proper illumination light. Here, a polymer blend is proposed wherein a commercial azo-polyelectrolyte is mixed with a passive polymer. The blend is patterned as an array of micro-pillars that are individually exposed to visible laser illumination. Thanks to the interplay between the two blend components, a reversible and controlled deformation of the micro-pillars by periodically tuning the laser polarization in time is demonstrated. A reduced mobility of the azo-compound allows to repeatibly elongate and rotate micro-pillars along specific directions, with no significant material flow outisde the initial volume and no significant degradation of the structure morphology over several cycles. The proposed work suggests new degrees of freedom in controlling the mechanical features of micro-patterned light-responsive materials that can be usefully exploited in many application fields.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep31702