Light-Emitting Smart Polymer (No. 0179)

Summary

A novel polymer that emits light in response to mechanical action.

The global smart material market size is anticipated to reach USD 98.2 billion by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 13.5% over the forecast period. Smart materials are advanced products, which can sense and respond to a broad range of stimuli, including electric and magnetic fields, temperature, pressure, mechanical stress, hydrostatic pressure, nuclear radiation, and pH change. Triboluminescent (TL) materials are examples of smart materials that produce light emission in response to mechanical action and has attracted significant interest due to their wide range of potential utilization for mechanoresponsive sensors, light emitting devices, etc. However, the majority of commonly used mechanophores (stress or strain activated molecular units) are based on organic molecules with an irreversible response, or a slow recovery. This hinders the development of a mechanical stress probe that can visualize subtle stress changes repeatably. Here we present a promising light-emitting smart material developed by a group of researchers led by Prof. Julia Khusnutdinova. The smart material is based on a copper-containing compound used as a cross-linker, which, upon mechanical action, will emit light.

Applications

• Stress sensing coating used on bridges, car and aircraft frames
• Mechanical probe to monitor applied mechanical stress in soft materials

Advantages

• Reversible
• Fast
• Sensitive