Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.135, No.8, 3067-3072, 2013
It Is the Outside That Counts: Chemical and Physical Control of Dynamic Surfaces
Materials capable of dynamically controlling surface chemistry and topography are highly desirable. We have designed a system that is uniquely able to remotely control the presented functionality and geometry at a given time by using a functionalizable shape memory material. This was accomplished by incorporating controlled amounts of an azide-containing monomer into a shape memory polymeric material. These materials are capable of physically changing surface geometry over a broad range of length scales from >1 mm to 100 am. Using copper-assisted click chemistry, they can be functionalized with a variety of molecules to yield different surfaces. Combining these features gave materials that can change both the presented geometry and functionality at tunable transition temperatures.