Issue 23, 2018

UV-triggered shape-controllable PP fabric

Abstract

A light-driven polypropylene (PP) fabric as an actuator was fabricated in which a light-responsive polymeric film acts as an active layer and a PP fabric acts as a passive layer. For this, poly[di(ethylene glycol)methyl ether methacrylate-co-pentafluorophenyl acrylate] P(DEGMA-co-PFPA) containing reactive pentafluorophenyl esters was synthesized as a precursor polymer. Owing to the highly reactive esters on P(DEGMA-co-PFPA), photoactive azobenzene moieties were introduced onto the polymer backbone via a post-modification polymerization strategy to form a light-responsive polymer, poly[di(ethylene glycol)methyl ether methacrylate-co-4-(4-methoxy-phenylazo) acrylate] (P(DEGMA-co-MOPAzo)). Interestingly, this copolymer can be attached in a simple and stable manner to the surface of a PP fabric via physical adsorption to build a light-responsive PP fabric. On account of its light responsiveness, this functional polymer PP fabric can immediately respond to a UV stimulus and show a reversible shape transition upon alternating exposure to UV irradiation and the addition of heat.

Graphical abstract: UV-triggered shape-controllable PP fabric

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Mar 2018
Accepted
13 May 2018
First published
14 May 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Polym. Chem., 2018,9, 3232-3237

UV-triggered shape-controllable PP fabric

J. Shang, S. Lin and P. Theato, Polym. Chem., 2018, 9, 3232 DOI: 10.1039/C8PY00411K

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