Photomechanical actuation of polydimethylsiloxane/carbon black nanocomposite
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Date
2020
Authors
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Publisher
Institution of Engineering and Technology jbristow@theiet.org
Abstract
Materials such as carbon black (CB), carbon nanotube, graphene, etc. have been found to deform on exposure to the light source. Introducing these materials into polymers could convert them to photo-responsive composites. This is demonstrated by the experiment in which polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer containing CB nanofiller composites is prepared, and its photomechanical actuation from exposure to IR light source is recorded using a laser displacement sensor. The particle size analysis reveals the size of the CB, which is verified by the dynamic light scattering method. The UV-vis-IR spectrophotometer study shows that an increase in the light absorbance capacity of nanocomposites compared to the plain polymer. The PDMS/CB nanocomposite beam exhibited a significant deformation compared to plain PDMS. Deformation of the order of 10-11 mm is observed for a given IR source. The deformation found to have good repeatability but with some thermal hysteresis in cyclic actuation and de-actuation. © 2020 Institution of Engineering and Technology. All rights reserved.
Description
Keywords
Carbon black, Carbon nanotubes, Deformation, Light scattering, Light sources, Microchannels, Nanocomposites, Particle size, Particle size analysis, Polydimethylsiloxane, Absorbances, Dynamic light scattering method, Laser displacement sensors, Nanofiller composites, Photo-responsive, Photomechanical actuations, Polydimethylsiloxane polymers, Thermal hysteresis, Silicones, carbon black, carbon nanoparticle, dimeticone, nanocomposite, unclassified drug, Article, hysteresis, infrared spectrophotometry, light, measurement repeatability, particle size, photochemistry, photon correlation spectroscopy, ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry
Citation
Micro and Nano Letters, 2020, 15, 7, pp. 437-440