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Photomechanical organosiloxane films derived from azobenzene-modified di- and tri-alkoxysilanes

  • Invited Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for optical, photonic and optoelectronic applications
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Abstract

Photoresponsive materials that reversibly change their shape upon light irradiation have a wide range of applications, such as sensors and actuators. Previously, we reported a free-standing film of a lamellar azobenzene–siloxane hybrid exhibiting reversible bending triggered by trans–cis photoisomerization of azobenzene. This material was prepared by an evaporation-induced self-assembly process using azobenzene-modified trialkoxysilanes as precursors. In this study, azobenzene-modified diethoxymethylsilane (AzoDES) was used in combination with conventional azobenzene-modified triethoxysilanes as the precursors to investigate the molecular factors affecting the structures and photoinduced bending behaviors of the lamellar azobenzene–siloxane hybrid materials. A lamellar hybrid film showing a higher degree of bending upon UV irradiation was obtained by adjusting the AzoDES content in the alkoxysilane precursors, although a further increase of the AzoDES content resulted in a disordered structure and lower degree of bending. The enhanced photo-deformation was attributed to the decrease in the degree of cross-linking of the siloxane networks.

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Highlights

  • Free-standing films of lamellar azobenzene–siloxane hybrids were prepared using azobenzene-modified diethoxymethylsilane and azobenzene-modified triethoxysilanes as precursors.

  • The films exhibited reversible bending in response to UV and visible light irradiation.

  • A higher degree of photoinduced bending was achieved by adjusting the content of the azobenzene-modified diethoxymethylsilane.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. T. Shibue (Materials Characterization Central Lab., Waseda Univ.) [26] for solid-state NMR measurements, Mr. Y. Miyamoto (Waseda Univ.) for nanoindentation test, Ms. M. Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) for tensile test, Dr. T. Matsuno, Dr. K. Muramatsu, Dr. M. Koike, Mr. T. Hayashi, Mr. M. Yatomi, and Mr. T. Hikino (Waseda Univ.) for fruitful discussion. This work was supported in part by JSPS Challenging Research (Exploratory) (19K22237). This work was the result of using research equipments (JEOL JNM-ECZ500, JEOL JNM-CMX400, JEOL JMS T100 CS AccuTOF: Material Characterization Central Laboratory) shared in MEXT Project for promoting public utilization of advanced research infrastructure (Program for supporting construction of core facilities) (Grant Number JPMXS0440500021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan

    Takehiro Harigaya, Ryota Kajiya, Kazuyuki Kuroda & Atsushi Shimojima

  2. Kagami Memorial Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology, Waseda University, 2-8-26 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0051, Japan

    Hiroaki Wada, Kazuyuki Kuroda & Atsushi Shimojima

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  1. Takehiro Harigaya
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  2. Ryota Kajiya
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  3. Hiroaki Wada
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  4. Kazuyuki Kuroda
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  5. Atsushi Shimojima
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Correspondence to Atsushi Shimojima.

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Harigaya, T., Kajiya, R., Wada, H. et al. Photomechanical organosiloxane films derived from azobenzene-modified di- and tri-alkoxysilanes. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 104, 659–665 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-022-05825-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-022-05825-w

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