UV‐Triggered Cascading Degradation of Silicone Elastomer via Self‐Fluoride Amplification

摘要

Abstract UV‐triggered on‐demand degradable materials offering accurate and remote control of material lifetime, are emerging as vital element for applications such as self‐destructive soft robotics for hardware security, triggerable transient electronics, and data protection systems. However, previously reported UV‐initiated materials face challenges, including i) poor scalability with limited penetration depth of UV light, ii) incompatibility with UV‐blocking materials, preventing generation of reactive moieties for degradation. This study proposes a locally UV‐triggered, synergistic F – self‐amplification system that enables rapid, complete, and on‐demand degradation of silicone elastomer composite, even with embedding UV‐blocking particles. This is achieved by introducing a self‐immolative F – amplifying molecule (FIA) and photo‐induced F – generator, diphenyliodonium hexaflurophosphate (DPI‐HFP) into the silicone elastomer which amplifies F – through F – ‐induced network of reactions. The F – amplification mechanism is validated through spectroscopic, thermal and chemical analysis, and the composite shows excellent mechanical properties with elongation over 450% and low Young's modulus of ≈60 kPa. Rapid UV‐triggered degradation occurs within 60 min even with embedding 33 wt.% of magnetic particle. Furthermore, a magnetically actuated soft robot is fabricated exhibiting various motions and on‐demand degradation, underscoring the potential of this material platform for expanding the scope for UV‐triggered degradable system across various fields.