Regulated photo/thermal dual and programmable staged responsive shape memory poly(aryl ether ketone)

In this paper, two types of photo/thermal dual and programmable staged responsive shape memory PAEK are fabricated. On one side, photosensitive cinnamic acid (CA) is grafted onto shape memory poly(aryl ether ketone) (PAEK) chains to obtain PEAK-CA with photo/thermal response. On the other hand, PAEK/CA composites are prepared via a facile physical blending as comparison. Both PAEK-CA and PAEK/CA materials exhibit the excellent heat-triggered (recovery ratio over 91.8%) and photo-responsive shape memory effect (recovery ratio over 76.5%). More interestingly, the staged shape fixity and shape recovery behaviors can be realized by combining independent photo/heat responsive shape memory behaviors. Take the PAEK/CA for example, the irradiation with λ of 365 nm can be used for shape fixity, and shape recovery can be triggered by heating. Meanwhile, the fixation of the temporary shape of the sample can also be realized by heating–cooling process, and then the irradiation with λ of 365 nm is used for shape recovery. These photo/thermal dual and staged responsive shape memory PAEK materials could be widely utilized in fields of soft robots, smart actuators, and deformable devices.