Inspired smart materials with external stimuli responsive wettability: a review

RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (43) ◽  
pp. 36623-36641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Guo ◽  
Zhiguang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Smart Materials ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Smart Surfaces ◽  
External Stimuli

Recent progress in smart surfaces with responsive wettability upon external stimuli is reviewed and some of the barriers and potentially promising breakthroughs in this field are also briefly discussed.

scholarly journals Mixed Polymer Brushes for “Smart” Surfaces

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingxiao Li ◽  
Christian W. Pester
Keyword(s):  
Phase Behavior ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Smart Materials ◽  
Polymer Brushes ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Smart Surfaces ◽  
Synthetic Approaches ◽  
Novel Applications ◽  
External Stimuli

Mixed polymer brushes (MPBs) are composed of two or more disparate polymers covalently tethered to a substrate. The resulting phase segregated morphologies have been extensively studied as responsive “smart” materials, as they can be reversible tuned and switched by external stimuli. Both computational and experimental work has attempted to establish an understanding of the resulting nanostructures that vary as a function of many factors. This contribution highlights state-of-the-art MPBs studies, covering synthetic approaches, phase behavior, responsiveness to external stimuli as well as novel applications of MPBs. Current limitations are recognized and possible directions for future studies are identified.

scholarly journals Recent Progress on Plant-Inspired Soft Robotics with Hydrogel Building Blocks: Fabrication, Actuation and Application

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 608
Author(s):  
Zhenyu Xu ◽  
Yongsen Zhou ◽  
Baoping Zhang ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Jianfeng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Soft Robotics ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Responsive Materials ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
External Stimuli

Millions of years’ evolution has imparted life on earth with excellent environment adaptability. Of particular interest to scientists are some plants capable of macroscopically and reversibly altering their morphological and mechanical properties in response to external stimuli from the surrounding environment. These intriguing natural phenomena and underlying actuation mechanisms have provided important design guidance and principles for man-made soft robotic systems. Constructing bio-inspired soft robotic systems with effective actuation requires the efficient supply of mechanical energy generated from external inputs, such as temperature, light, and electricity. By combining bio-inspired designs with stimuli-responsive materials, various intelligent soft robotic systems that demonstrate promising and exciting results have been developed. As one of the building materials for soft robotics, hydrogels are gaining increasing attention owing to their advantageous properties, such as ultra-tunable modulus, high compliance, varying stimuli-responsiveness, good biocompatibility, and high transparency. In this review article, we summarize the recent progress on plant-inspired soft robotics assembled by stimuli-responsive hydrogels with a particular focus on their actuation mechanisms, fabrication, and application. Meanwhile, some critical challenges and problems associated with current hydrogel-based soft robotics are briefly introduced, and possible solutions are proposed. We expect that this review would provide elementary tutorial guidelines to audiences who are interested in the study on nature-inspired soft robotics, especially hydrogel-based intelligent soft robotic systems.

scholarly journals Recent progress in the shape deformation of polymeric hydrogels from memory to actuation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoyi Wu ◽  
Huanhuan Lu ◽  
Xiaoxia Le ◽  
Wei Lu ◽  
Jiawei Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Shape Deformation ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Reversible Deformation ◽  
Stimuli Responsive Polymers ◽  
Responsive Polymers ◽  
Polymeric Hydrogels ◽  
External Stimuli

Shape deformation hydrogels, which are one of the most promising and essential classes of stimuli-responsive polymers, could provide large-scale and reversible deformation under external stimuli.

scholarly journals Stimuli-responsive surfaces for switchable wettability and adhesion

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (179) ◽  
pp. 20210162
Author(s):  
Chang Li ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
Zhongshi Ni ◽  
Qingwen Guan ◽  
Bamber R. K. Blackman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Contact Angles ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Liquid Transport ◽  
Adhesion Properties ◽  
Smart Surfaces ◽  
Biological Surfaces ◽  
Responsive Surfaces ◽  
Rose Petal ◽  
External Stimuli

Diverse unique surfaces exist in nature, e.g. lotus leaf, rose petal and rice leaf. They show similar contact angles but different adhesion properties. According to the different wettability and adhesion characteristics, this review reclassifies different contact states of droplets on surfaces. Inspired by the biological surfaces, smart artificial surfaces have been developed which respond to external stimuli and consequently switch between different states. Responsive surfaces driven by various stimuli, e.g. stretching, magnetic, photo, electric, temperature, humidity and pH, are discussed. Studies reporting on either atmospheric or underwater environments are discussed. The application of tailoring surface wettability and adhesion includes microfluidics/droplet manipulation, liquid transport and harvesting, water energy harvesting and flexible smart devices. Particular attention is placed on the horizontal comparison of smart surfaces with the same stimuli. Finally, the current challenges and future prospects in this field are also identified.

scholarly journals Bioinspired Smart Materials With Externally-Stimulated Switchable Adhesion

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Wang ◽  
Yiyang Wan ◽  
Xiaowei Wang ◽  
Zhenhai Xia
Keyword(s):  
Smart Materials ◽  
Protein Separation ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Ph Value ◽  
Electrical Signal ◽  
Design And Synthesis ◽  
Smart Surfaces ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
External Stimuli

Living organisms have evolved, over billions of years, to develop specialized biostructures with switchable adhesion for various purposes including climbing, perching, preying, sensing, and protecting. According to adhesion mechanisms, switchable adhesives can be divided into four categories: mechanically-based adhesion, liquid-mediated adhesion, physically-actuated adhesion and chemically-enhanced adhesion. Mimicking these biostructures could create smart materials with switchable adhesion, appealing for many engineering applications in robotics, sensors, advanced drug-delivery, protein separation, etc. Progress has been made in developing bioinspired materials with switchable adhesion modulated by external stimuli such as electrical signal, magnetic field, light, temperature, pH value, etc. This review will be focused on new advance in biomimetic design and synthesis of the materials and devices with switchable adhesion. The underlying mechanisms, design principles, and future directions are discussed for the development of high-performance smart surfaces with switchable adhesion.

4D printing technology, modern era: A short review

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-111
Author(s):  
Khodadad Mostakim ◽  
Nahid Imtiaz Masuk ◽  
Md. Rakib Hasan ◽  
Md. Shafikul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Smart Materials ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
4D Printing ◽  
Space Applications ◽  
Printing Technology ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Biomedical Technologies ◽  
Novel Material

The advancement in 3D printing has led to the rapid growth of 4D printing technology. Adding time, as the fourth dimension, this technology ushered the potential of a massive evolution in fields of biomedical technologies, space applications, deployable structures, manufacturing industries, and so forth. This technology performs ingenious design, using smart materials to create advanced forms of the 3-D printed specimen. Improvements in Computer-aided design, additive manufacturing process, and material science engineering have ultimately favored the growth of 4-D printing innovation and revealed an effective method to gather complex 3-D structures. Contrast to all these developments, novel material is still a challenging sector. However, this short review illustrates the basic of 4D printing, summarizes the stimuli responsive materials properties, which have prominent role in the field of 4D technology. In addition, the practical applications are depicted and the potential prospect of this technology is put forward.

Smart Polymers and their Applications: A Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gore S. A. ◽  
Gholve S. B. ◽  
Savalsure S. M. ◽  
Ghodake K. B. ◽  
Bhusnure O. G. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Solution Temperature ◽  
Smart Polymers ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Responsive Materials ◽  
Water Soluble Polymers ◽  
Commercial Applications ◽  
Stimuli Sensitive ◽  
External Stimuli

Smart polymers are materials that respond to small external stimuli. These are also referred as stimuli responsive materials or intelligent materials. Smart polymers that can exhibit stimuli-sensitive properties are becoming important in many commercial applications. These polymers can change shape, strength and pore size based on external factors such as temperature, pH and stress. The stimuli include salt, UV irradiation, temperature, pH, magnetic or electric field, ionic factors etc. Smart polymers are very promising applicants in drug delivery, tissue engineering, cell culture, gene carriers, textile engineering, oil recovery, radioactive wastage and protein purification. The study is focused on the entire features of smart polymers and their most recent and relevant applications. Water soluble polymers with tunable lower critical solution temperature (LCST) are of increasing interest for biological applications such as cell patterning, smart drug release, DNA sequencing etc.

scholarly journals Dynamic Manipulation of THz Waves Enabled by Phase-Transition VO2 Thin Film

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Chang Lu ◽  
Qingjian Lu ◽  
Min Gao ◽  
Yuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Optical Methods ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Device Structure ◽  
Current State ◽  
Insulator Metal Transition ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Fs Laser ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
Thz Applications ◽  
Thz Waves

The reversible and multi-stimuli responsive insulator-metal transition of VO2, which enables dynamic modulation over the terahertz (THz) regime, has attracted plenty of attention for its potential applications in versatile active THz devices. Moreover, the investigation into the growth mechanism of VO2 films has led to improved film processing, more capable modulation and enhanced device compatibility into diverse THz applications. THz devices with VO2 as the key components exhibit remarkable response to external stimuli, which is not only applicable in THz modulators but also in rewritable optical memories by virtue of the intrinsic hysteresis behaviour of VO2. Depending on the predesigned device structure, the insulator-metal transition (IMT) of VO2 component can be controlled through thermal, electrical or optical methods. Recent research has paid special attention to the ultrafast modulation phenomenon observed in the photoinduced IMT, enabled by an intense femtosecond laser (fs laser) which supports “quasi-simultaneous” IMT within 1 ps. This progress report reviews the current state of the field, focusing on the material nature that gives rise to the modulation-allowed IMT for THz applications. An overview is presented of numerous IMT stimuli approaches with special emphasis on the underlying physical mechanisms. Subsequently, active manipulation of THz waves through pure VO2 film and VO2 hybrid metamaterials is surveyed, highlighting that VO2 can provide active modulation for a wide variety of applications. Finally, the common characteristics and future development directions of VO2-based tuneable THz devices are discussed.

Azobenzene Crystal Polymorphism Enables Tuneable Photoinduced Deformation, Mechanical Behaviors and Photoluminescent Properties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunhui Hao ◽  
Lei Gao ◽  
Xiunan Zhang ◽  
Rongli Wei ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smart Materials ◽  
Molecular Crystals ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Mechanical Behaviors ◽  
Crystal Polymorphism

Stimuli-responsive molecular crystals are fascinating for their potential as adaptive smart materials. However, achieving one crystal that could respond to multiple stimuli and perform multiple functionalities simultaneously is still challenging....

scholarly journals Luminescent Supramolecular Nano- or Microstructures Formed in Aqueous Media by Amphiphile-Noble Metal Complexes

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Cretu ◽  
Loredana Maiuolo ◽  
Domenico Lombardo ◽  
Elisabeta I. Szerb ◽  
Pietro Calandra
Keyword(s):  
Noble Metal ◽  
Smart Materials ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Noble Metals ◽  
Photophysical Properties ◽  
Aqueous Media ◽  
Molecular Architecture ◽  
Stimuli Responsive ◽  
Panoramic View ◽  
Amphiphilic Molecules

The involvement of metal ions within the self-assembly spontaneously occurring in surfactant-based systems gives additional and interesting features. The electronic states of the metal, together with the bonds that can be established with the organic amphiphilic counterpart, are the factors triggering new photophysical properties. Moreover, the availability of stimuli-responsive supramolecular amphiphile assemblies, able to disassemble in a back-process, provides reversible switching particularly useful in novel approaches and applications giving rise to truly smart materials. In particular, small amphiphiles with an inner distribution, within their molecular architecture, of various polar and apolar functional groups, can give a wide variety of interactions and therefore enriched self-assemblies. If it is joined with the opportune presence and localization of noble metals, whose chemical and photophysical properties are undiscussed, then very interesting materials can be obtained. In this minireview, the basic concepts on self-assembly of small amphiphilic molecules with noble metals are shown with particular reference to the photophysical properties aiming at furnishing to the reader a panoramic view of these exciting problematics. In this respect, the following will be shown: (i) the principles of self-assembly of amphiphiles that involve noble metals, (ii) examples of amphiphiles and amphiphile-noble metal systems as representatives of systems with enhanced photophysical properties, and (iii) final comments and perspectives with some examples of modern applications.

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