Fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer and preparation method and use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11926697-B2
Application number	US-202017270593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2020
Priority date	Feb 7, 2020
Publication date	Mar 12, 2024
Grant date	Mar 12, 2024

Abstract

The present invention provides a fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of Formula (1). The present invention also discloses a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer, which comprises a copolymer of a fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of Formula (1) with a near-infrared dye of Formula (2). The fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer of the present invention shrinks due to the photothermal conversion effect of the material under the irradiation of near-infrared light, and thus is widely applicable to the field of actuators. The fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of the present invention introduces fluorine-containing segments into the cross-linked network of the liquid crystal polymer, to improve the mechanical performance of the material, and greatly extend the service time of light-controlled actuators.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for preparing a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer, comprising steps of:
(1) under a protective atmosphere, reacting a fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer of Formula (1) and a near-infrared dye of Formula (2) in the presence of Grubbs catalyst in an organic solvent at 58-65° C. for 1.5-2.5 h to obtain a preliminarily cross-linked polymer; and
(2) applying an external force to the preliminarily cross-linked polymer, and allowing the preliminarily cross-linked polymer to react at 110-130° C. under the action of the external force, to obtain the fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer after the reaction is completed, wherein the compounds of Formulas (1)-(2) are shown below:

where X=5-12.

2. The method for preparing a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer according to claim 1 , wherein in Step (1), the molar ratio of the fluorine-containing liquid crystal polymer to the near-infrared dye is 4:1-6:1.

3. The method for preparing a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer according to claim 1 , wherein in Step (1), the preliminarily cross-linked polymer is in the shape of a film; and in Step (2), the external force is a tensile force, and the preliminarily cross-linked polymer in the shape of a film deforms along its length direction under the action of the external force.

4. The method for preparing a fluorine-containing liquid crystal elastomer according to claim 3 , wherein under the action of the external force, the preliminarily cross-linked polymer in the shape of a film is extended to 1.5-1.8 times the original length.

Assignees

• Univ Soochow

Inventors

• Cheng Zhenping
• Tu Kai
• He Enjie
• Cheng Jiannan
• Zhang Lifen
• Zhu Xiulin

Classifications

• C08G61/121 Primary

  derived from organic halides · CPC title

• B29C55/005

  characterised by the choice of materials · CPC title

• B29C55/04

  uniaxial, e.g. oblique · CPC title

• C07C227/16

  by reactions not involving the amino or carboxyl groups · CPC title

• C08J5/18

  Manufacture of films or sheets · CPC title