Dissertation
Optical and Photo-Mechanical Properties of Azo Dye-Doped Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) polymer
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005060
Abstract
This dissertation studies optical and photo-mechanical properties in Disperse Red 1(DR1)-doped Poly (Methyl Methacrylate)(PMMA) samples to elucidate how light affects shape changes of a material from microscopic to bulk scales. It is well known that DR1 molecules photo-isomerize, a process where molecules change shape as they transition from trans form to cis. Such molecules therefore act as a small light-activated actuator, so are used as dopants in materials such as liquid crystal elastomer, liquid crystal network and PMMA polymer to make them photo-mechanically active.
Photo-mechanical materials act as optical actuators, which change shapes under light illumination. It is hoped that DR1 molecules or other similar azo molecules can harvest the incident photons' energy to deform the bulk materials when stimulated by light. However, photo-thermal heating is a competitive mechanisms that accompanies photo-isomerization, and change of temperature can also cause shape changes in the materials through thermal expansion of the host polymer and changes in the isomer populations. Few past studies have addressed the efficiencies of coupling between the dopants and the host polymer to determine how they should affect the performance of the photo-mechanical responses.
This dissertation focuses on studying the underlying mechanisms and how they contribute to the creation of stress in DR1-doped PMMA thin films and fibers. More specfically, the behaviors of DR1 molecules under different incident laser wavelengths, intensities and polarizations are studied both theoretically and experimentally. To differentiate the contribution from photo-thermal heating, temperature-dependent measurements on DR1-doped PMMA samples are also conducted.
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Details
- Title
- Optical and Photo-Mechanical Properties of Azo Dye-Doped Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) polymer
- Creators
- Bojun Zhou
- Contributors
- Mark G Kuzyk (Advisor)Fred Gittes (Committee Member)Matthew McCluskey (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 158
- Identifiers
- 99901019237801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation