Source: "Research" WeChat public account
近期，西北工业大学的黄维院士团队和于涛教授课题组对光致变色聚合物的最新发展进行了深入综述。 该综述以 “Recent Development of Photochromic Polymer Systems: Mechanism, Materials and Applications”为题，刊登在Research上。
Quotation:
Zou J, Liao J, He Y, Zhang T, Xiao Y, Wang H, Shen M, Yu T, Huang W. Recent Development of Photochromic Polymer Systems: Mechanism, Materials, and Applications. Research 2024; 7:Article 0392.
https://doi.org/10.34133/research.0392
Background:
Photochromic polymer is a special polymer material that can undergo reversible color change under light irradiation, which allows the polymer to quickly and reversibly change color when exposed to light by introducing specific photochromic groups (such as azobenzene, spiropyran, diaryl ethylene, etc.) into the macromolecule. This property of photochromic polymers makes them have a wide range of application potential in many fields such as smart materials, optical information storage, optical conversion devices, and optical switches. With precise control of lighting conditions, this polymer enables efficient color switching, opening up revolutionary possibilities for modern technology.
Research Progress
Recently, the team of Academician Huang Wei and Professor Yu Tao of Northwestern Polytechnical University conducted an in-depth review of the latest development of photochromic polymers. They delved into the basic color-changing mechanisms of photochromic polymers such as azobenzene, spiropyran, and diarylethylene, and provided a comprehensive and detailed overview of the classification, properties, and application areas of these materials. In particular, with the rapid development of 3D printing technology, the team also summarized the latest research results of 3D printing photochromic polymers, and looked forward to its broad application prospects in the field of smart materials and devices in the future, providing reference and inspiration for researchers in the field of photochromic polymers.
Fig.1 Classification and application of photochromic polymers
Azobenzene polymers, as an important branch of photochromic materials, are mainly divided into two categories: block copolymers and dendritic polymers, which have shown a wide range of application potential in many fields such as photopatterning, drug delivery and self-healing with their unique photoresponsive properties. The C-O bond in the molecular structure of spiropyran breaks and opens the ring, showing color change, and can return to a colorless state under the action of visible light or heat, with extremely fast color change speed, which is widely used in smart materials and other fields. Diaryl ethylene discoloration is due to charge transfer and conformational change within the molecule, and this kind of material has a wide application prospect in the fields of optical switching, optical storage, super-resolution imaging, and sensors. In addition to this, with the boom of 3D printing technology, researchers have also summarized photochromic polymers for 3D printing. It is expected that in the future, photochromic 3D printing polymers are expected to be used in sensors, photochromic glass, and even biomimetic human tissue structures to improve people's quality of life.
Future outlook
However, the development of photochromic polymers still faces many challenges. In order to promote its wide application in practical applications, we first need to solve the problems of high synthesis difficulty and insufficient light sensitivity, so as to develop polymer materials that are easier to synthesize and more sensitive to light. Secondly, improving the light fatigue resistance, reversibility and long-life performance of polymers is crucial for their applications in flexible electronic devices and other fields. Finally, it will be the focus of future research to explore the effective combination of photochromic polymers and high-end technologies such as additive manufacturing, and to develop photochromic devices with complex structures and diverse functions to meet the needs of cutting-edge fields such as health detection and nanotechnology.
About the Author
The corresponding authors of this article are Academician Huang Wei and Professor Yu Tao. This work was supported by the National Basic Science Center of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Shaanxi Provincial Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars.
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