Near‐infrared light response novel shape memory actuator based on photothermal rGO‐TiO2 filler

Abstract

AbstractAs an efficient method to realize photoinduced shape memory, photothermal filler has the characteristics of economy and convenience. However, the aggregation of the photothermal filler in the matrix material will reduce the material's shape memory and mechanical properties. In this work, the photothermal filler of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)‐titanium dioxide (TiO2) was prepared by the solvothermal method and then introduced into the polycaprolactone (PCL) matrices to construct a photoresponsive actuator. Because of TiO2 is uniformly loaded on the rGO surface, rGO‐TiO2 disperses well in the composites. When the GO:TiO2 ratio of photothermal filler is 1:1, the mechanical properties of PCL‐GT‐3 are the best, and the tensile strength and elongation at break are 31.8 MPa and 239.5%, respectively, and the crosslinking material under near‐infrared light has a good photothermal effect. Due to the induced difference between the in‐plane stress of the surface and the volume layer, the shape transformation can be controlled by very low energy (808 nm, 700 mW near‐infrared laser). The scheme of controlling the properties of the photoinduced shape memory material by changing only the filler type is conducive to commercial application.