Issue 8, 2011

Photochromic materials with tunable color and mechanical flexibility

Abstract

Florescence switches based on photochromic compounds have been fabricated previously and identified as potential candidates for information technology. Recently, optically responsive materials with tunable color have been prepared by dissolving photochromic compounds, such as spiropyran (SP), into solutions of various pH or embedding them into sol–gel matrices with adjusted chemical compositions. Here we report on fabricating flexible rubbers with tunable color by embedding SP molecules inside silicone elastomer networks (SENs) based on poly(vinylmethylsiloxane) (PVMS). SP-containing PVMS networks have been further modified either physically by exposing them to ultraviolet/ozone treatment or chemically by attaching functional thiols to the vinyl bonds in PVMS via UV-activated thiol–ene addition. The color hue of the SP–PVMS SENs after exposing to UV light depends on either the UVO dose or the chemical end-functionality of the thiol modifier, respectively. We also present simple methodologies enabling patterning regions in SP-doped SENs with various shapes and colors.

Graphical abstract: Photochromic materials with tunable color and mechanical flexibility

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Sep 2010
Accepted
28 Oct 2010
First published
02 Dec 2010

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 3766-3774

Photochromic materials with tunable color and mechanical flexibility

H. Yang, A. Evren Özçam, K. Efimenko and J. Genzer, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 3766 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00928H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements