Institute Proves Innovative Light-Powered Motor

Copyright Tomiki Ikeda, Professor in the Chemical Resources Laboratory at Japan's Tokyo Institute of Technology

A research team led by Tomiki Ikeda, a professor in the Chemical Resources Laboratory at Japan's Tokyo Institute of Technology, has developed a photomobile polymer material and succeeded in demonstrating its use to power a plastic motor using only light. The results of their research were reported in the English version of a German chemistry journal in June 2008.

The newly developed material is a liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) film containing azobenzene, an organic compound that changes its molecular alignment when exposed to light. The film contracts under ultraviolet light and expands under visible light. In the demonstration, the team looped a belt made of the LCE film around two axes. When ultraviolet light and visible light were shone simultaneously on different parts of the belt, the contraction and expansion forces caused the belt to rotate.

The new material allows not only rotational movement but also translational movement, which is how an inchworm moves. The amount of energy generated per unit area is about ten times greater than human muscle. Also confirmed was no deterioration of performance after continuous expansion and contraction of the material at 40-second intervals for about 30 hours (about 2,500 times of 360-degree rotation). This new research development means that the new material can be used in a system to convert light energy directly into mechanical motion.

Ikeda said that his dream is to realize a plastic automobile driven by light without the aid of batteries or gears by improving the technology's mechanical performance and efficiency.

- Ikeda-Shishido Laboratory
http://www.res.titech.ac.jp/~polymer/index-e.html

Posted: 2008/12/09 06:05:30 AM