STIMELASTO english

STIMuli-responsive ELASTOmers based on photoactive cross-linkers

 

From March 2025 to March 2029

 

Coordinator Laboratory of the project : Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR)

Coordinator : Franck CAMEREL

 

IMN Coordinator of the project : Sandrine PERRUCHAS CR CNRS (équipe MIOPS)

 

Partners :
Laboratoire Sciences et Ingénierie de la Matière Molle de Sorbonne Université (SIMM)

 

Persons of IMN involved :
Michael PARIS (IR UNIV), Jean-Yves MEVELLEC (IR CNRS)

 

Total Financing : 420 k€ with 109 k€ for IMN

Materials displaying luminescence properties that can be switched in response to external stimuli are of great interest in the fields of sensors, information storage and anti-counterfeiting... Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), based on polymerizable liquid-crystal molecules and crosslinkers, are an interesting class of polymer materials capable of undergoing large-scale deformation 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 cross-linkers to develop this type of material, whose luminescence properties will be sensitive to mechanical stress as well as temperature.

To this end, polymerizable mechanochromic copper complexes will be studied. Photothermal crosslinkers based on polymerizable dithiolene complexes will also be used to develop mechanochromic and photoactive materials. The dithiolene complexes will convert NIR light into heat, inducing isotropization and hence contraction of the elastomer, thus modifying the luminescence properties of the mechanochromic compound.