Producing lightweight polymeric actuators able to generate high stresses typical of hard metals and/or ceramics remains challenging. The photo-mechanical responses of ultra-drawn ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) actuators containing azobenzene photo-switches with symmetrically attached polyethylene (PE) side chains are reported. Long PE side chains promote dispersion within the apolar UHMWPE matrix, and the ultra-drawn films are highly aligned. The ultra-drawn azobenzene-doped UHMWPE films have high Young's moduli (∼100 GPa) and are viscoelastic at room temperature at strains below 1%. The photo-mechanical response of the films is fast (<1 s), showing a high specific actuation stress response (>6 × 10⁴ Pa (kg m⁻³)⁻¹) to UV or visible light at a low strain (∼0.06%). The actuator responds to rotating linearly polarized light, causing a photo-induced stress wave response. Such rapid, high-stress, low-strain, photo-mechanical responses are unique in soft polymer systems with physical values approaching hard metals/ceramics.

生产能够产生典型的硬金属和/或陶瓷高应力的轻质聚合物致动器仍然具有挑战性。报告了超拉伸超高分子量聚乙烯（UHMWPE）致动器的光机械响应，该致动器包含带有对称连接的聚乙烯（PE）侧链的偶氮苯光开关。较长的PE侧链可促进非极性UHMWPE基质内的分散，并且超拉伸薄膜高度对齐。超拉伸偶氮苯掺杂的UHMWPE薄膜具有很高的杨氏模量（〜100 GPa），在室温下应变低于1％时具有粘弹性。薄膜的光机械响应快（<1 s），显示出高的比驱动应力响应（> 6×10 ⁴ Pa（kg m ^-3）^-1）以低应变（〜0.06％）的紫外线或可见光照射。执行器对旋转的线性偏振光作出响应，从而引起光感应应力波响应。这种快速，高应力，低应变的光机械响应在软聚合物系统中是独特的，其物理值接近硬金属/陶瓷。