Prof. Tao XIE's Group

Stimuli-responsive materials with sophisticated yet controllable shape-changing behaviors are highly desirable for real-world device applications. Among various shape-changing materials, the elastic nature of shape memory polymers allows fixation of temporary shapes that can recover on demand, whereas polymers with exchangeable bonds can undergo permanent shape change via plasticity. We integrate the elasticity and plasticity into a single polymer network. Rational molecular design allows these two opposite behaviors to be realized at different temperature ranges without any overlap. By exploring the cumulative nature of the plasticity, we demonstrate easy manipulation of highly complex shapes that is otherwise extremely challenging. The dynamic shape-changing behavior paves a new way for fabricating geometrically complex multifunctional devices.

         This work was published on Science Advances (the offspring of Science) on Jan. 8, 2016, and was soon reported by a number of highly influential medium including Wall Street Journal, Science News, CCTV, and so on. In special, Nature released a research highlight on Jan. 14 issue (Nature, 529, 130). Links of selected reports about the work were listed as below.

Science News:

http://news.sciencemag.org/chemistry/2016/01/new-material-can-fold-itself-hundreds-shapes

Nature highlight:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7585/full/529130c.html

Wall Street Journal:

http://www.wsj.com/video/new-polymer-shapeshifts-into-complex-origami-shapes/BAAB6EFE-D792-436C-AD46-5CBA73BC2605.html