Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes <italic style="font-style: italic">via</italic> Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography

Cai-Yun Ren; Wen-Bin Zhu; Di Wu; Zi-Long Yang; Shao-Quan Li; Lu-Lu Pan; Bo Shi; Jian-Feng Ban

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6

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Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes via Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-10-10

- Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes via Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-11(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  School of materials science and engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China
- Author bio：
  
  panlulu@163.com (L.L.P.)
  shibosut@163.com (B.S.)
  banjianfeng@gdupt.edu.cn (J.F.B.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6
  CLC：
- Received：23 May 2026，
  
  Revised：2026-06-17，
  
  Accepted：20 June 2026，
  
  Online First：10 October 2026，
  
  Published：2026-08
- Accepted：
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Ren, C. Y.; Zhu, W. B.; Wu, D.; Yang, Z. L.; Li, S. Q.; Pan, L. L.; Shi, B.; Ban, J. F. Spatiotemporally programmable triple-responsive polyurethanes via dynamic-topology-coupling for rapid actuation and optical cryptography. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6

Cai-Yun Ren, Wen-Bin Zhu, Di Wu, et al. Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes via Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6.
Ren, C. Y.; Zhu, W. B.; Wu, D.; Yang, Z. L.; Li, S. Q.; Pan, L. L.; Shi, B.; Ban, J. F. Spatiotemporally programmable triple-responsive polyurethanes via dynamic-topology-coupling for rapid actuation and optical cryptography. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6 DOI：

Cai-Yun Ren, Wen-Bin Zhu, Di Wu, et al. Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes via Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

Although shape-memory polymers show significant potential in soft robotics and flexible electronics

their practical deployment is often limited by conventional bulk thermal triggering

which lacks spatiotemporal resolution and rapid response capabilities. To address this limitation

by engineered a class of triple-responsive (thermal/UV/NIR) shape-memory polyurethanes (H

-SPMUs)

via

a “dynamic-topology-coupling” strategy. Specifically

photo-reversible coumarin moieties were covalently tethered onto a stable epoxy-amine polyurethane skeleton. By systematically varying the alkyl spacer length

a critical structure-property correlation was elucidated: elongating the flexible spacer effectively alle

via

ted local steric hindrance

thereby accelerating the photochemical dimerization kinetics and increasing the topological crosslinking density. Consequently

the optimized H

-SPMUs decoupled network stability from dynamic responsiveness

achieving excellent multimodal actuation: rapid global thermal recovery at a mild 45 °C

rapid non-contact NIR actuation within 4 s driven by intrinsic photothermal conversion

and precise spatiotemporal 3D programming

via

localized 365 nm UV irradiation. Furthermore

by leveraging the catalyst-free

reversible [2+2

]

cycloaddition of coumarin units

the engineered network demonstrated on-demand photothermal self-healing and established a reliable platform for multi-cycle “write-store-erase” optical data encryption. This synergistic design paradigm provides a versatile material framework for untethered soft actuators and advanced anticounterfeiting technologies.

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Spatiotemporally Programmable Triple-responsive Polyurethanes via Dynamic-Topology-Coupling for Rapid Actuation and Optical Cryptography

DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3791-6

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references