Synthesis and characterisation of biodegradable liquid crystal elastomer with the property of shape recovery
Abstract
Novel shape recovery biodegradable liquid crystal (LC) elastomer is reported here for the first time. The method of synthesis of the shape memory biodegradable LC elastomer has been explored. During the reaction, the LC molecules are added to form LC polymers, and then cross-linking agent is added to form a cross-linked LC elastomer. The LC elastomer in this work is hydrophilic. In vitro degradation of the LC elastomer films in a buffer of pH 7.4 at 37°C shows that the LC elastomer has good degradability. The biodegradable LC elastomer exhibits liquid crystalline behaviour and has shape memory ability. Its shape memory and actuating properties also have been studied. The reversible transition from liquid crystalline phase to isotropic phase is utilised as the switching mechanism for these stimuli-responsive materials. When reheating the LC elastomer to 120°C, the shape will recover.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Additional functionalities such as biodegradability or improved performances have been included in LCEs.
“Additional functionalities, such as biodegradability [168] or improved performances [169], have been included.”
From Two-Way and Multiple-Way Shape Memory Polymers for Soft Robotics: An Overview (2020) · cites this paper as [168]
Cites
Programmable and adaptive mechanics with liquid crystal polymer networks and elastomers
White, T. J., & Broer, D. J. (2015) · Nature Materials · doi:10.1038/nmat4433 · Cited by 1,745 · see citing works
Hu, J., Zhu, Y., Huang, H., & Lu, J. (2012) · Progress in Polymer Science · doi:10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2012.06.001 · Cited by 1,279 · see citing works
Liquid crystalline elastomers as actuators and sensors
Ohm, C., Brehmer, M., & Zentel, R. (2010) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.200904059 · Cited by 1,169 · see citing works
Photomobile Polymer Materials: Towards Light‐Driven Plastic Motors
Yamada, M., Kondo, M., Mamiya, J., Yu, Y., Kinoshita, M., Barrett, C. J., & Ikeda, T. (2008) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.200800760 · Cited by 1,048 · see citing works
Fast liquid-crystal elastomer swims into the dark
Camacho-Lopez, M. A., Finkelmann, H., Palffy‐Muhoray, P., & Shelley, M. (2004) · Nature Materials · doi:10.1038/nmat1118 · Cited by 1,009 · see citing works
Shape memory polymers: Past, present and future developments
Hager, M. D., Bode, S., Weber, C., & Schubert, U. S. (2015) · Progress in Polymer Science · doi:10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2015.04.002 · Cited by 950 · see citing works
Polymers move in response to light
Jiang, H. Y., Kelch, S., & Lendlein, A. (2006) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.200502266 · Cited by 631 · see citing works
Torsional Carbon Nanotube Artificial Muscles
Foroughi, J., Spinks, G. M., Wallace, G. G., Oh, J., Kozlov, M. E., Fang, S., Mirfakhrai, T., Madden, J. D. W., Shin, M. K., Kim, S. J., et al. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1211220 · Cited by 581 · see citing works
Biodegradable Polymeric Materials
Chiellini, E., & Solaro, R. (1996) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.19960080406 · Cited by 567 · see citing works
Biodegradable block copolymers
Kumar, M. N. V. R., Ravikumar, M. N. V., & Domb, A. J. (2001) · Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0169-409x(01)00219-8 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
A biodegradable polymer as a cytokine delivery system for inducing bone formation
Saito, N., Okada, T., Horiuchi, H., Murakami, N., Takahashi, J. A., Nawata, M., Ota, H., Nozaki, K., & Takaoka, K. (2001) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/86715 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Reversible Infrared Actuation of Carbon Nanotube–Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Nanocomposites
Yang, L., Setyowati, K., Li, A., Gong, S., & Chen, J. (2008) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.200702953 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Liu, X., Wei, R., Hoang, P. T., Wang, X., Liu, T., & Keller, P. (2015) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.201500443 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Programmed liquid crystal elastomers with tunable actuation strain
Ware, T. H., & White, T. J. (2015) · Polymer Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c5py00640f · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Metallo-, Thermo-, and Photoresponsive Shape Memory and Actuating Liquid Crystalline Elastomers
Michal, B. T., McKenzie, B. M., Felder, S. E., & Rowan, S. J. (2015) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00646 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Nematic main-chain elastomers: Coupling and orientational behavior
Krause, S., Zander, F., Bergmann, G., Brandt, H., Wertmer, H., & Finkelmann, H. (2008) · Comptes Rendus Chimie · doi:10.1016/j.crci.2008.08.003 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Corbett, D., & Warner, M. (2009) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678290903062994 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Zhang, C., Hao, L., Calabrese, C. M., Zhou, Y., Choi, C. H. J., Xing, H., & Mirkin, C. A. (2015) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.201501573 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Shi, F., Gross, R. A., & Rutherford, D. R. (1996) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/ma950707j · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Ding, T., Liu, Q., Shi, R., Tian, M., Yang, J. H., & Zhang, L. (2005) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2005.06.007 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Controlled Shape Memory Behavior of a Smectic Main-Chain Liquid Crystalline Elastomer
Li, Y., Pruitt, C., Rios, O. R., Wei, L., Rock, M., Keum, J. K., McDonald, A. G., & Kessler, M. R. (2015) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00519 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Polymeric shape memory materials and actuators
Sun, L., Huang, W., Wang, C. C., Ding, Z., Zhao, Y., Tang, C., & Gao, X. Y. (2013) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2013.805832 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Low loss liquid crystals for infrared applications
Peng, F., Chen, Y., Wu, S.-T. T., Tripathi, S., & Twieg, R. J. (2014) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2014.932452 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Zou, H. H., Weder, C., & Simon, Y. C. (2015) · Macromolecular Materials and Engineering · doi:10.1002/mame.201500079 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Haberl, J. M., Sánchez‐Ferrer, A., Mihut, A. M., Dietsch, H., Hirt, A. M., & Mezzenga, R. (2014) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.201304218 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Photo-responsive liquid crystalline elastomer with reduced chemically modified graphene oxide
Wei, R., Wang, Z., Zhang, H., & Liu, X. (2016) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2016.1155773 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Guo, Z., Li, Q., Liu, X., Hu, J., & Yang, L. (2015) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2015.1061144 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Photomechanical effects in liquid crystal polymer networks prepared withm-fluoroazobenzene
Lee, K. M., Lynch, B., Luchette, P. A., & White, T. J. (2013) · Journal of Polymer Science Part A Polymer Chemistry · doi:10.1002/pola.27072 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Reversible Photo Actuated Bulk Nanocomposite with Nematic Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Matrix
Li, C., Huang, X., Li, C., & Jiang, H. (2015) · Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/15421406.2014.953748 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Chiral surfactants for dispersing carbon nanotubes
Lin, P., Cong, Y., & Zhang, B. (2015) · Polymer Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c5py00040h · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Self-citationNanoscale structures of polarisation-modulated bent-core materials in thin films
Zhang, C., Salili, S. M., Diorio, N., Weißflog, W., & Jákli, A. I. (2015) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2015.1081297 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Thermally-induced two-way shape memory polymers: Mechanisms, structures, and applications
Zare, M., Prabhakaran, M. P., Parvin, N., & Ramakrishna, S. (2019) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2019.05.167 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Shape Memory Polymers as Smart Materials: A Review
Dayyoub, T., Maksimkin, A. V., Filippova, O. V., Tcherdyntsev, V. V., & Telyshev, D. V. (2022) · Polymers · doi:10.3390/polym14173511 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Two-Way and Multiple-Way Shape Memory Polymers for Soft Robotics: An Overview
Scalet, G. (2020) · Actuators · doi:10.3390/act9010010 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Liquid Crystal Materials for Biomedical Applications
Zhang, Z., Yang, X., Zhao, Y., Ye, F., & Shang, L. (2023) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202300220 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
The evolution of mechanical actuation: from conventional actuators to artificial muscles
Greco, C., Kotak, P., Pagnotta, L., & Lamuta, C. (2021) · International Materials Reviews · doi:10.1080/09506608.2021.1971428 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Ince, J. C., Prasad, K., Subhani, K., Duffy, A. R., & Salim, N. V. (2024) · Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials · doi:10.1007/s42114-024-00988-2 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Yang, X., Chen, S., Chen, S., & Xu, H. (2019) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2019.1606352 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Akram, A., Shahzady, T. G., Hussain, S., Saad, N. A., Islam, M. T., & Ikram, M. (2021) · Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry · doi:10.1134/s107042722112003x · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Wei, P., Wang, Y., Xia, Y., He, Y. W., & Wang, Y. (2018) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2018.1482507 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Liu, X., Guo, N., Guo, Z., Hu, Z., Chen, Z., Hu, J., & Yang, L. (2018) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2018.1499974 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Biodegradable and crosslinkable poly(propylene fumarate) liquid crystal polymers
Liu, Z., Wang, M., Huang, S., & Yang, H. (2022) · Polymer Chemistry · doi:10.1039/d1py01475g · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Jiang, Y., Gao, Y., Lin, Z., Yan, G., Wang, J., & Li, J. (2018) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2018.1487090 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Yang, R., Ding, L., Chen, W., Zhang, X., & Li, J. (2018) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2018.1503350 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Main-chain biodegradable liquid crystal materials base on diosgenin: synthesis and mesomorphism
Chen, C., Guo, Z., Hu, J., & Yang, L. (2021) · Liquid Crystals · doi:10.1080/02678292.2021.1921864 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Jasmine, S., Sidharthan, J., Jonathan, D. R., Solomon, R. V., Ebenezer, C., & Roopsingh, D. (2022) · Materials Today Proceedings · doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2022.06.339 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Shape-memory smart biocomposites
Bakri, M. K. B., & Rahman, M. R. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-33643-0.00010-7
Engineering and Exploring Hydrolytic Degradation in 3D-Printed Liquid Crystalline Elastomers
Danielsen, L. C., Burdick, J. A., & White, T. J. (2026) · Biomacromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.biomac.5c02638
- Authors
- Xu, M., Cong, Y., & Zhang, B.
- Affiliations
- Northeastern University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Baoyan
- Venue
- Liquid Crystals
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-03-27
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1701-1708
- ISSN
- 0267-8292 (ISSN-L)
- 1366-5855
- OpenAlex
- W2599287948
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 1.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Liquid Crystals (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (2008BAL55B03)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Materials and Mechanics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Liquid Crystal Research Advancements
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer composites and self-healing
- Keywords
- liquid crystal elastomers, biodegradable polymers, shape memory effect, shape recovery, in vitro degradation, crosslinking, stimuli-responsive materials, actuation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
