Fast Photoactuation and Environmental Response of Humidity‐Sensitive pDAP‐Silicon Nanocantilevers

Abstract

AbstractMulti‐responsive nanomembranes are a new class of advanced materials that can be harnessed in complex architectures for micro and nano‐manipulators, artificial muscles, energy harvesting, soft robotics, and sensors. The design and fabrication of responsive membranes must meet such challenges as trade‐offs between responsiveness and mechanical durability, volumetric low‐cost production ensuring low environmental impact, and compatibility with standard technologies or biological systems This work demonstrates the fabrication of multi‐responsive, mechanically robust poly(1,3‐diaminopropane) (pDAP) nanomembranes and their application in fast photoactuators. The pDAP films are developed using a plasma‐assisted polymerization technique that offers large‐scale production and versatility of potential industrial relevance. The pDAP layers exhibit high elasticity with the Young's modulus of ≈7 GPa and remarkable mechanical durability across 20–80 °C temperatures. Notably, pDAP membranes reveal immediate and reversible contraction triggered by light, rising temperature, or reducing relative humidity underpinned by a reversible water sorption mechanism. These features enable the fabrication of photoactuators composed of pDAP‐coated Si nanocantilevers, demonstrating ms timescale response to light, tens of µm deflections, and robust performance up to kHz frequencies. These results advance fundamental research on multi‐responsive nanomembranes and hold the potential to boost versatile applications in light‐to‐motion conversion and sensing toward the industrial level.