Researchers in the US have developed a new way to curl polymer sheets to create a variety of 3D structures.
Shape memory polymers change shape in response to external stimuli such as light and heat. Chemists add active materials to polymer sheets, which then deform on stimulation. Usually the active materials are placed in regions where curvature is desired, but Michael Dickey, Jan Genzer and their colleagues at North Carolina State University have now shown they can deform regions adjacent to the active materials.
Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry
Read the full story by Laura Fisher in Chemistry World.
This article is free to access until 14 April 2017.
A M Hubbard et al, Soft Matter, 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c7sm00088j
