Talk given by

Dr. Eva Blasco

ITCP and APH

KIT

Abstract:

Stimuli responsive materials have been widely studied during the last years. These materials play an important role in a broad range of fields including biomedicine, microelectronics, optics or sensors among others. Responsive materials possess one or more properties that can be modified in a controlled fashion on receiving an external stimulus. The most widely investigated stimuli are pH, temperature or light, among others. Light is an especially attractive stimulus allowing for temporal and spatial control. A simple way to achieve photoresponse in a material is the incorporation of photochromic moieties, which can be reversibly switched between two states upon light irradiation. One of the most interesting and studied chromophores are azobenzenes. Azobenzenes can undergo reversible trans-cis photoisomerization, which results in significant changes in the polarity and the geometry of the azobenzene moiety leading to interesting possibilities for the design of new photoresponsive materials.

In the current talk, I will highlight my past work on photoresponsive polymers based on azobenzene and introduce my current research on the fabrication of 3D microstructures as well as my future plans.