This recent featured work proposes a novel for fabricating programmable 4D printed objects composed of shape memory polymers that are activated by light. The light activation is based on combining gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as photothermal converters with acrylate-based printing compositions that form shape memory polymers with tunable transition temperatures. Moreover, numerical simulations result in the excellent prediction of the shape memory recovery. The approach can be applied in remotely controlling morphing, mainly for applications in the fields of actuators and soft robotics.
Wang, Y., Sachyani, E., Kamyshny, A., Scalet, G., Auricchio, F., Magdassi, S., 4D Multimaterial Printing of Programmable and Selective Light-Activated Shape-Memory Structures with Embedded Gold Nanoparticles. Adv. Mater. Technol. 2021, 2101058. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202101058