Development of a photo-controlled polymeric dry adhesive

The work presented in this thesis describes the design, synthesis, and analysis of a polymeric donor-acceptor Stenhouse adduct (DASA). This photoswitch was chosen as it switches between two isomeric states, open and closed, that are neutral and zwitterionic respectively. The goal of this project was to manipulate this change in polarity to induce a stronger adhesive response in the polymer, due to an increase in the dipole-dipole interaction between the polymer and a contact piece. While the single molecule exhibits reversibility in solution, the polymer does not appear to reverse in solution or in the solid state. There was a change of 18° in the contact angle, indicating a photoinduced change in the intermolecular forces did occur, however this has no significant effect on the bulk adhesive properties.