Dynamic Assemblies of Molecular Motor Amphiphiles Control Macroscopic Foam Properties
Open Access
- 7 May 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Vol. 142 (22), 10163-10172
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c03153
Abstract
Stimuli-responsive supramolecular assemblies controlling macroscopic transformations with high structural fluidity, i.e., foam properties, have attractive prospects for applications in soft materials ranging from biomedical systems to industrial processes, e.g., textile coloring. However, to identify the key processes for the amplification of molecular motion to a macroscopic level response is of fundamental importance for exerting the full potential of macroscopic structural transformations by external stimuli. Herein, we demonstrate the control of dynamic supramolecular assem-blies in aqueous media and as a consequence their macroscopic foam properties, e.g., foamability and foam stability, by large geometrical transformations of dual light/heat stimuli-responsive molecular motor amphiphiles. Detailed insight into the reversible photoisomerization and thermal helix inversion at the molecular level, supramolecular assembly transformations at the microscopic level, as well as the stimuli-responsive foam properties at the macroscopic level, as determined by UV-vis absorption and NMR spectroscopies, electronic microscopy, foamability and in situ surface ten-sion measurements, are presented. By selective use of external stimuli, e.g., light or heat, multiple states and properties of macroscopic foams can be controlled with very dilute aqueous solutions of the motor amphiphiles (0.2 weight%), demonstrating the potential of multiple stimuli-responsive supramolecular systems based on an identical molecular amphiphile and providing opportunities for future soft materials.Keywords
Funding Information
- State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (B17021)
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (B17021)
- Government of Jiangsu Province (KYCX17_1435)
- Croucher Foundation
- Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap (024.001.035)
- China Scholarship Council (201706790063)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21174055)
- H2020 European Research Council (694345)
- Jiangnan University
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- National first-class discipline program of Light Industry Technology and Engineering (LITE2018-21)
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