TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dani, Alessandro
A1  - Tauber, Karoline
A1  - Zhang, Weiyi
A1  - Schlaad, Helmut
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Stable Covalently Photo-Crosslinked Poly(Ionic Liquid) Membrane with Gradient Pore Size
JF  - Macromolecular rapid communications
N2  - Porous polyelectrolyte membranes stable in a highly ionic environment are obtained by covalent crosslinking of an imidazolium-based poly(ionic liquid). The crosslinking reaction involves the UV light-induced thiol-ene (click) chemistry, and the phase separation, occurring during the crosslinking step, generates a fully interconnected porous structure in the membrane. The porosity is on the order of the micrometer scale and the membrane shows a gradient of pore size across the membrane cross-section. The membrane can separate polystyrene latex particles of different size and undergoes actuation in contact with acetone due to the asymmetric porous structure.
KW  - membrane
KW  - photo-crosslinked
KW  - poly(ionic liquid)
KW  - porous structure
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201700167
SN  - 1022-1336
SN  - 1521-3927
VL  - 38
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Dani, Alessandro
A1  - Taeuber, Karoline
A1  - Zhang, Weiyi
A1  - Schlaad, Helmut
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Stable covalently photo-cross-linked porous poly(ionic liquid) membrane with gradient pore size
T2  - Abstracts of papers : joint conference / The Chemical Institute of Cananda, CIC, American Chemical Society, ACS
N2  - Porous polyelectrolyte membranes stable in a highly ionic environment are obtained by covalent crosslinking of an imidazolium-based poly(ionic liquid). The crosslinking reaction involves the UV light-induced thiol-ene (click) chemistry, and the phase separation, occurring during the crosslinking step, generates a fully interconnected porous structure in the membrane. The porosity is on the order of the micrometer scale and the membrane shows a gradient of pore size across the membrane cross-section. The membrane can separate polystyrene latex particles of different size and undergoes actuation in contact with acetone due to the asymmetric porous structure.
Y1  - 2018
SN  - 0065-7727
VL  - 256
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhang, Weiyi
A1  - Willa, Christoph
A1  - Sun, Jian-Ke
A1  - Guterman, Ryan
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Polytriazolium poly(ionic liquid) bearing triiodide anions: Synthesis, basic properties and electrochemical behaviors
JF  - Polymer : the international journal for the science and technology of polymers
N2  - 4-Methyl-1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazolium triiodide ionic liquid and its polymer poly(4-methyl-1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazolium) triiodide were prepared for the first time from their iodide precursors via the reaction of iodide (I-) with elemental iodine (I-2). The change from iodide to triiodide (I-3(-)) was found to introduce particular variations in the physical properties of these two compounds, including lower melting point/glass transition temperature and altered solubility. The compounds were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, and their electrochemical properties examined in solution and in the solid-state. Compared with their iodide analogues, the triiodide salts exhibited lower electrical impedance and higher current in the cyclic voltammetry. We found that poly(4-methyl-1,2,4-triazolium triiodide) was proven to be a promising solid polymer electrolyte candidate. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KW  - Poly(ionic liquid)
KW  - Solid polymer electrolyte
KW  - Grotthuss mechanism
KW  - Triiodide "network"
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2017.07.059
SN  - 0032-3861
SN  - 1873-2291
VL  - 124
SP  - 246
EP  - 251
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - THES
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Poly(Ionic Liquid)s
BT  - innovative polyelectrolytes for materials applications
Y1  - 2015
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Xie, Dongjiu
A1  - Xu, Yaolin
A1  - Wang, Yonglei
A1  - Pan, Xuefeng
A1  - Härk, Eneli
A1  - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1  - Eljarrat, Alberto
A1  - Müller, Johannes
A1  - Koch, Christoph T.
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Lu, Yan
T1  - Poly(ionic liquid) nanovesicle-templated carbon nanocapsules functionalized with uniform iron nitride nanoparticles as catalytic sulfur host for Li-S batteries
JF  - ACS nano
N2  - Poly(ionic liquid)s (PIL) are common precursors for heteroatom-doped carbon materials. Despite a relatively higher carbonization yield, the PIL-to-carbon conversion process faces challenges in preserving morphological and structural motifs on the nanoscale. Assisted by a thin polydopamine coating route and ion exchange, imidazoliumbased PIL nanovesicles were successfully applied in morphology-maintaining carbonization to prepare carbon composite nanocapsules. Extending this strategy further to their composites, we demonstrate the synthesis of carbon composite nanocapsules functionalized with iron nitride nanoparticles of an ultrafine, uniform size of 3-5 nm (termed "FexN@C "). Due to its unique nanostructure, the sulfur-loaded FexN@C electrode was tested to efficiently mitigate the notorious shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in Li-S batteries. The cavity of the carbon nanocapsules was spotted to better the loading content of sulfur. The well-dispersed iron nitride nanoparticles effectively catalyze the conversion of LiPSs to Li2S, owing to their high electronic conductivity and strong binding power to LiPSs. Benefiting from this well-crafted composite nanostructure, the constructed FexN@C/S cathode demonstrated a fairly high discharge capacity of 1085 mAh g(-1) at 0.5 C initially, and a remaining value of 930 mAh g(-1 )after 200 cycles. In addition, it exhibits an excellent rate capability with a high initial discharge capacity of 889.8 mAh g(-1) at 2 C. This facile PIL-to-nanocarbon synthetic approach is applicable for the exquisite design of complex hybrid carbon nanostructures with potential use in electrochemical energy storage and conversion.
KW  - poly(ionic liquid)s
KW  - nanovesicles
KW  - sulfur host
KW  - iron nitride
KW  - Li-S
KW  - batteries
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c01992
SN  - 1936-0851
SN  - 1936-086X
VL  - 16
IS  - 7
SP  - 10554
EP  - 10565
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Mai, Tobias
A1  - Boye, Susanne
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Völkel, Antje
A1  - Gräwert, Marlies
A1  - Günter, Christina
A1  - Lederer, Albena
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
T1  - Poly(ethylene oxide)-based block copolymers with very high molecular weights for biomimetic calcium phosphate mineralization
N2  - The present article is among the first reports on the effects of poly(ampholyte)s and poly(betaine)s on the biomimetic formation of calcium phosphate. We have synthesized a series of di- and triblock copolymers based on a non-ionic poly(ethylene oxide) block and several charged methacrylate monomers, 2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 2-((3-cyanopropyl)-dimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt, and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide. The resulting copolymers are either positively charged, ampholytic, or betaine block copolymers. All the polymers have very high molecular weights of over 106 g mol−1. All polymers are water-soluble and show a strong effect on the precipitation and dissolution of calcium phosphate. The strongest effects are observed with triblock copolymers based on a large poly(ethylene oxide) middle block (nominal Mn = 100 000 g mol−1). Surprisingly, the data show that there is a need for positive charges in the polymers to exert tight control over mineralization and dissolution, but that the exact position of the charge in the polymer is of minor importance for both calcium phosphate precipitation and dissolution.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 208 
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85299
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mai, Tobias
A1  - Boye, Susanne
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Voelkel, Antje
A1  - Graewert, Marlies
A1  - Günter, Christina
A1  - Lederer, Albena
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
T1  - Poly(ethylene oxide)-based block copolymers with very high molecular weights for biomimetic calcium phosphate mineralization
JF  - RSC Advances
N2  - The present article is among the first reports on the effects of poly(ampholyte)s and poly(betaine) s on the biomimetic formation of calcium phosphate. We have synthesized a series of di- and triblock copolymers based on a non-ionic poly(ethylene oxide) block and several charged methacrylate monomers, 2-(trimethylammonium) ethyl methacrylate chloride, 2-((3-cyanopropyl)-dimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt, and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide. The resulting copolymers are either positively charged, ampholytic, or betaine block copolymers. All the polymers have very high molecular weights of over 10(6) g mol(-1). All polymers are water-soluble and show a strong effect on the precipitation and dissolution of calcium phosphate. The strongest effects are observed with triblock copolymers based on a large poly(ethylene oxide) middle block (nominal M-n = 100 000 g mol(-1)). Surprisingly, the data show that there is a need for positive charges in the polymers to exert tight control over mineralization and dissolution, but that the exact position of the charge in the polymer is of minor importance for both calcium phosphate precipitation and dissolution.
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20035k
SN  - 2046-2069
VL  - 5
IS  - 125
SP  - 103494
EP  - 103505
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mai, Tobias
A1  - Boye, Susanne
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Völkel, Antje
A1  - Gräwert, Marlies
A1  - Günter, Christina
A1  - Lederer, Albena
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
T1  - Poly(ethylene oxide)-based block copolymers with very high molecular weights for biomimetic calcium phosphate mineralization
JF  - RSC Advances : an international journal to further the chemical sciences
N2  - The present article is among the first reports on the effects of poly(ampholyte)s and poly(betaine)s on the biomimetic formation of calcium phosphate. We have synthesized a series of di- and triblock copolymers based on a non-ionic poly(ethylene oxide) block and several charged methacrylate monomers, 2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 2-((3-cyanopropyl)-dimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride, 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt, and [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide. The resulting copolymers are either positively charged, ampholytic, or betaine block copolymers. All the polymers have very high molecular weights of over 106 g mol−1. All polymers are water-soluble and show a strong effect on the precipitation and dissolution of calcium phosphate. The strongest effects are observed with triblock copolymers based on a large poly(ethylene oxide) middle block (nominal Mn = 100 000 g mol−1). Surprisingly, the data show that there is a need for positive charges in the polymers to exert tight control over mineralization and dissolution, but that the exact position of the charge in the polymer is of minor importance for both calcium phosphate precipitation and dissolution.
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20035k
SN  - 2046-2069
IS  - 5
SP  - 103494
EP  - 103505
PB  - RSC Publishing
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mai, Tobias
A1  - Rakhmatullina, Ekaterina
A1  - Bleek, Katrin
A1  - Boye, Susanne
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Voelkel, Antje
A1  - Graewert, Marlies
A1  - Cheaib, Zeinab
A1  - Eick, Sigrun
A1  - Günter, Christina
A1  - Lederer, Albena
A1  - Lussi, Adrian
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
T1  - Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) block copolymers for calcium phosphate mineralization and biofilm inhibition
JF  - Biomacromolecules : an interdisciplinary journal focused at the interface of polymer science and the biological sciences
N2  - Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) has long been used as an additive in toothpaste, partly because it reduces biofilm formation on teeth. It does not, however, reduce the formation of dental calculus or support the remineralization of dental enamel or dentine. The present article describes the synthesis of new block copolymers on the basis of PEO and poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) blocks using atom transfer radical polymerization. The polymers have very large molecular weights (over 10(6) g/mol) and are highly water-soluble. They delay the precipitation of calcium phosphate from aqueous solution but, upon precipitation, lead to relatively monodisperse hydroxyapatite (HAP) spheres. Moreover, the polymers inhibit the bacterial colonization of human enamel by Streptococcus gordonii, a pioneer bacterium in oral biofilm formation, in vitro. The formation of well-defined HAP spheres suggests that a polymer-induced liquid precursor phase could be involved in the precipitation process. Moreover, the inhibition of bacterial adhesion suggests that the polymers could be utilized in caries prevention.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/bm500888q
SN  - 1525-7797
SN  - 1526-4602
VL  - 15
IS  - 11
SP  - 3901
EP  - 3914
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Men, Yongjun
A1  - Siebenbürger, Miriam
A1  - Qiu, Xunlin
A1  - Antonietti, Markus
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Low fractions of ionic liquid or poly(ionic liquid) can activate polysaccharide biomass into shaped, flexible and fire-retardant porous carbons
N2  - Sugar-based molecules and polysaccharide biomass can be turned into porous functional carbonaceous products at comparably low temperatures of 400 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere in the presence of an ionic liquid (IL) or a poly(ionic liquid) (PIL). The IL and PIL act as “activation agents” with own structural contribution, and effectively promote the conversion and pore generation in the biomaterials even at a rather low doping ratio (7 wt%). In addition, this “induced carbonization” and pore forming phenomenon enables the preservation of the biotemplate shape to the highest extent and was employed to fabricate shaped porous carbonaceous materials from carbohydrate-based biotemplates, exemplified here with cellulose filter membranes, coffee filter paper and natural cotton. These carbonized hybrids exhibit comparably good mechanical properties, such as bendability of membranes or shape recovery of foams. Moreover, the nitrogen atoms incorporated in the final products from the IL/PIL precursors further improve the oxidation stability in the fire-retardant tests.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 248 
Y1  - 2013
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-95250
SP  - 11887
EP  - 11887
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Men, Yongjun
A1  - Siebenbürger, Miriam
A1  - Qiu, Xunlin
A1  - Antonietti, Markus
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Low fractions of ionic liquid or poly(ionic liquid) can activate polysaccharide biomass into shaped, flexible and fire-retardant porous carbons
JF  - Journal of materials chemistry : A, Materials for energy and sustainability
N2  - Sugar-based molecules and polysaccharide biomass can be turned into porous functional carbonaceous products at comparably low temperatures of 400 degrees C under a nitrogen atmosphere in the presence of an ionic liquid (IL) or a poly(ionic liquid) (PIL). The IL and PIL act as "activation agents" with own structural contribution, and effectively promote the conversion and pore generation in the biomaterials even at a rather low doping ratio (7 wt%). In addition, this "induced carbonization" and pore forming phenomenon enables the preservation of the biotemplate shape to the highest extent and was employed to fabricate shaped porous carbonaceous materials from carbohydrate-based biotemplates, exemplified here with cellulose filter membranes, coffee filter paper and natural cotton. These carbonized hybrids exhibit comparably good mechanical properties, such as bendability of membranes or shape recovery of foams. Moreover, the nitrogen atoms incorporated in the final products from the IL/PIL precursors further improve the oxidation stability in the fire-retardant tests.
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta12302b
SN  - 2050-7488
VL  - 1
IS  - 38
SP  - 11887
EP  - 11893
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Men, Yongiun
A1  - Siebenbürger, Miriam
A1  - Qiu, Xunlin
A1  - Antonietti, Markus
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Low fractions of ionic liquid or poly(ionic liquid) can activate polysaccaride biomass into shaped, flexible and fire-retardant porous carbons
N2  - Sugar-based molecules and polysaccharide biomass can be turned into porous functional carbonaceous products at comparably low temperatures of 400 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere in the presence of an ionic liquid (IL) or a poly(ionic liquid) (PIL). The IL and PIL act as "activation agents" with own structural contribution, and effectively promote the conversion and pore generation in the biomaterials even at a rather low doping ratio (7 wt%). In addition, this "induced carbonization" and pore forming phenomenon enables the preservation of the biotemplate shape to the highest extent and was employed to fabricate shaped porous carbonaceous materials from carbohydrate-based biotemplates, exemplified here with cellulose filter membranes, coffee filter paper and natural cotton. These carbonized hybrids exhibit comparably good mechanical properties, such as bendability of membranes or shape recovery of foams. Moreover, the nitrogen atoms incorporated in the final products from the IL/PIL precursors further improve the oxidation stability in the fire-retardant tests.
Y1  - 2013
UR  - http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2013/ta/c3ta12302b
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta12302b
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhang, Su-Yun
A1  - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1  - Lee, Hui-Chun
A1  - Lu, Yan
A1  - Zhang, Hemin
A1  - Zhang, Jie
A1  - Sun, Jian-Ke
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - Ionic organic cage-encapsulating phase-transferable metal clusters
JF  - Chemical science
N2  - Exploration of metal clusters (MCs) adaptive to both aqueous and oil phases without disturbing their size is promising for a broad scope of applications. The state-of-the-art approach via ligand-binding may perturb MCs' size due to varied metal–ligand binding strength when shuttling between solvents of different polarity. Herein, we applied physical confinement of a series of small noble MCs (<1 nm) inside ionic organic cages (I-Cages), which by means of anion exchange enables reversible transfer of MCs between aqueous and hydrophobic solutions without varying their ultrasmall size. Moreover, the MCs@I-Cage hybrid serves as a recyclable, reaction-switchable catalyst featuring high activity in liquid-phase NH3BH3 (AB) hydrolysis reaction with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 115 min−1.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8sc04375b
SN  - 2041-6520
SN  - 2041-6539
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
SP  - 1450
EP  - 1456
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sung, Jian-Ke
A1  - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1  - Zhang, Wei-Yi
A1  - Kirmse, Holm
A1  - Lu, Yan
A1  - Antonietti, Markus
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - General Synthetic Route toward Highly Dispersed Metal Clusters Enabled by Poly(ionic liquid)s
JF  - Journal of the American Chemical Society
N2  - The ability to synthesize a broad spectrum of metal clusters (MCs) with their size controllable on a subnanometer scale presents an enticing prospect for exploring nanosize-dependent properties. Here we report an innovative design of a capping agent from a polytriazolium poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) in a vesicular form in solution that allows for crafting a variety of MCs including transition metals, noble metals, and their bimetallic alloy with precisely controlled sizes (similar to 1 nm) and record-high catalytic performance. The ultrastrong stabilization power is a result of an unusual synergy between the conventional binding sites in the heterocyclic cations in PIL and an in situ generated polycarbene structure induced simultaneously to the reduction reaction.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b03357
SN  - 0002-7863
VL  - 139
SP  - 8971
EP  - 8976
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - ten Brummelhuis, Niels
A1  - Junginger, Mathias
A1  - Xie, Zailai
A1  - Lu, Yan
A1  - Taubert, Andreas
A1  - Schlaad, Helmut
T1  - Diversified applications of chemically modified 1,2-Polybutadiene
JF  - Macromolecular rapid communications
N2  - Commercially available 1,2-PB was transformed into a well-defined reactive intermediate by quantitative bromination. The brominated polymer was used as a polyfunctional macroinitiator for the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline to yield a water-soluble brush polymer. Nucleophilic substitution of bromide by 1-methyl imidazole resulted in the formation of polyelectrolyte copolymers consisting of mixed units of imidazolium, bromo, and double bond. These copolymers, which were soluble in water without forming aggregates, were used as stabilizers in the heterophase polymerization of styrene and were also studied for their ionic conducting properties.
KW  - emulsion polymerization
KW  - polybutadiene
KW  - polyelectrolytes
KW  - polymer modification
KW  - ring-opening polymerization
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201100254
SN  - 1022-1336
VL  - 32
IS  - 15
SP  - 1157
EP  - 1162
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Malden
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1  - Chen, Guosong
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
A1  - Lu, Yan
T1  - Cryo-Electron microscopy for the study of self-assembled poly(ionic liquid) nanoparticles and protein supramolecular structures
JF  - Colloid and polymer science : official journal of the Kolloid-Gesellschaft
N2  - Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful structure determination technique that is well-suited to the study of protein and polymer self-assembly in solution. In contrast to conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation, which often times involves drying and staining, the frozen-hydrated sample preparation allows the specimens to be kept and imaged in a state closest to their native one. Here, we give a short overview of the basic principles of Cryo-EM and review our results on applying it to the study of different protein and polymer self-assembled nanostructures. More specifically, we show how we have applied cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to visualize the internal morphology of self-assembled poly(ionic liquid) nanoparticles and cryo-EM single particle analysis (SPA) to determine the three-dimensional (3D) structures of artificial protein microtubules.
KW  - self-assembly
KW  - poly(ionic liquid) nanoparticles
KW  - protein self-assembly
KW  - cryo-electron microscopy
KW  - single particle analysis
KW  - cryo-electron
KW  - tomography
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-020-04657-w
SN  - 0303-402X
SN  - 1435-1536
VL  - 298
IS  - 7
SP  - 707
EP  - 717
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zhao, Qiang
A1  - Dunlop, John William Chapman
A1  - Qiu, Xunlin
A1  - Huang, Feihe
A1  - Zhang, Zibin
A1  - Heyda, Jan
A1  - Dzubiella, Joachim
A1  - Antonietti, Markus
A1  - Yuan, Jiayin
T1  - An instant multi-responsive porous polymer actuator driven by solvent molecule sorption
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Fast actuation speed, large-shape deformation and robust responsiveness are critical to synthetic soft actuators. A simultaneous optimization of all these aspects without trade-offs remains unresolved. Here we describe porous polymer actuators that bend in response to acetone vapour (24 kPa, 20 degrees C) at a speed of an order of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art, coupled with a large-scale locomotion. They are meanwhile multi-responsive towards a variety of organic vapours in both the dry and wet states, thus distinctive from the traditional gel actuation systems that become inactive when dried. The actuator is easy-to-make and survives even after hydrothermal processing (200 degrees C, 24 h) and pressing-pressure (100 MPa) treatments. In addition, the beneficial responsiveness is transferable, being able to turn 'inert' objects into actuators through surface coating. This advanced actuator arises from the unique combination of porous morphology, gradient structure and the interaction between solvent molecules and actuator materials.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5293
SN  - 2041-1723
VL  - 5
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -