Signal-responsive plastics

US8871893B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Penn State Research Foundation · US

Inventors

• Scott T. Phillips · Cambridge, US
• Wanji Seo · State College, US
• Jessica Sloane Robbins · New York, US
• Michael Olah · Pittsburgh, US
• Kyle Schmid · Riverside, US
• Anthony Michael DiLauro · East Greenwich, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 10, 2011
• Grant date: Oct 28, 2014
• Expiry date: Apr 21, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N31/22
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

We disclose methods and compositions for preparation of stimuli-responsive plastics that are capable of responding to chemical and/or physical signals in their environment. In one embodiment the plastics consist of patterned mixtures of poly(phthalaldehyde) polymers in which each polymer contains a different end-capping group (also called a “trigger”), responsive to a different signal. Other embodiments use different polymers and different triggers. The plastics may be homogeneous in composition, but each polymer within the plastic is capable of responding to a different signal and depolymerizing once this signal reacts with the trigger. This process of depolymerization enables the plastic to alter its physical features non-linearly to external signals: i.e., the degree of change in physical form is much larger than the intensity of the initial signal.