Animals such as chameleons possess a natural ability to adjust their skin color as a preventive measure to deter any potential threat and to self-heal damaged skin tissues. Inspired by this, we present here a copolymer film possessing biomimetic properties that simultaneously integrates electrochromic triphenylamine and self-healing Diels-Alder groups. The flexible and stretchable copolymer film acts like natural chameleon skin, which exhibits significant color variation and also possesses excellent self-healing properties. These remarkable features make it a promising material for overcoming the crack-generation issue inherited by conventional biomimetic chameleon skin. Moreover, a flexible and wearable skin device based on the copolymer film with silver fabric as a electrode has also been fabricated. The electrochromic and self-healing properties were verified for the copolymer film, and it has been elucidated that the intelligent biomimetic "chameleon skin" was a new step toward the development of highly advanced biomimetic materials and devices.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b13249 | DOI Listing |
ACS Mater Au
January 2025
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Soft Structures for Vibration Isolation and Impact Protection (ADAPT), School of Education, STEM Education, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4040 Linz, Austria.
Soft materials play a pivotal role in the efficacy of stretchable electronics and soft robotics, and the interface between the soft devices and rigid counterparts is especially crucial to the overall performance. Herein, we develop polyimide-polydimethylsiloxane (PI-PDMS) copolymers that, in various ratios, combine on a molecular level to give a series of chemically similar materials with an extremely wide Young's modulus range starting from soft 2 MPa and transitioning to rigid polymers with up to 1500 MPa. Of particular significance is the copolymers' capacity to prepare seamless stiffness gradients, as evidenced by strain distribution analyses of gradient materials, due to them being unified on a molecular level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States.
With their ability to self-assemble spontaneously into well-defined nanoscale morphologies, block copolymer (BCP) thin films are a versatile platform to fabricate functional nanomaterials. An important challenge to wider deployment of BCPs in nanofabrication is combining precise control over the nanoscale domain orientation in BCP assemblies with scalable deposition techniques that are applicable to large-area, curved, and flexible substrates. Here, we show that spray-deposited smooth films of a nominally disordered BCP exhibit latent orientations, which can be prescriptively selected by controlling solvent evaporation during spray casting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Cosmet Sci
January 2025
Makeup Products Research, Kao Corporation, Odawara, Japan.
Objective: Currently, nasolabial folds are mainly removed by invasive procedures, resulting in long-lasting changes, as non-surgical user-implementable alternatives are scarce and inefficient. For example, the use of coating films for this purpose has thus far faced substantial difficulties because such films should combine the antithetical properties of shrinkability and flexibility. Herein, we challenge this status quo by identifying a polymer that simultaneously exhibits shrinkability and flexibility and using this polymer to develop a cosmetic formulation for immediate and non-invasive nasolabial fold removal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymers (Basel)
December 2024
Graduate School of Advanced Science and Technology, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi 923-1292, Japan.
Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a high-performance polymer known for its excellent thermal stability, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance, attributes that are derived from its unique structure comprising repeated benzene and imidazole rings. However, limitations such as relatively low thermal stability and moisture sensitivity restrict its application as a super engineering plastic. In this study, amide groups are incorporated into the PBI backbone to synthesize the copolymer poly(BI--A), effecting a structural modification at the molecular level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymers (Basel)
December 2024
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Graduated School of Advanced Science and Technology, Asahidai, Nomi 923-1292, Ishikawa, Japan.
We studied the rheological properties under both shear and elongational flow and crystallization behaviors after shear history for binary blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) with a slightly lower shear viscosity. EVA was immiscible with PLA and dispersed in droplets in the blend. The addition of EVA significantly reduced the shear viscosity, which is attributed to the interfacial slippage between PLA and EVA.
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