ANR PRC STIMELASTO

Dates:
From March 2025 to March 2029

Project coordinator:
Franck CAMEREL, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR)

Partner laboratories :

• IMN
• Sorbonne University’s Soft Matter Sciences and Engineering Laboratory (SIMM)

IMN staff involved:
Michael PARIS, Jean-Yves MEVELLEC

Stimulable elastomers based on photoactive crosslinkers

Materials with luminescence properties that can be switched in response to external stimuli are of great interest not only for sensors, but also for information storage and anti-counterfeiting applications…

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), composed of polymerizable liquid-crystal molecules and cross-linking agents, are an interesting class of polymeric materials.

They are capable of undergoing large deformations under the effect of mechanical stress or temperature change. The integration of luminescent mechanochromic compounds into LCEs should enable the development of mechanochromic luminescent materials that are highly sensitive to mechanical forces.

The aim of this project is therefore to use mechanochromic crosslinkers to develop this type of material. Their luminescence properties will be sensitive to both mechanical stress and temperature. To this end, polymerizable mechanochromic copper complexes will be studied. Photothermal crosslinkers will be used to develop photoactive mechanochromic materials. The dithiolene complexes will convert NIR light into heat. The effect of the heat will then cause the elastomer to contract. These changes in turn will modify the luminescence properties of the mechanochromic compound.