Professor Kwang‑woon Jeong (Department of Polymer -Nano Science &Technology; Graduate School, Department of Nano Convergence Engineering) and his research team, including doctoral student Minwoo Lim (Ph.D. candidate), have developed a shape‑memory polymer with excellent thermal conductivity and published the results in a world‑renowned journal in the materials field.

The intrinsically low thermal conductivity of polymers is the primary drawback of heat‑activated shape‑memory polymers, causing slow actuation speeds. To address this, doctoral student Minwoo Lim designed and synthesized a novel nanometer‑scale molecule and used the synthesized molecule to develop a shape‑memory polymer exhibiting excellent thermal conductivity.

This research was selected as the cover article of the American Chemical Society's Chemistry of Materials (IF = 9.811) on January 25, 2022.

In the published paper, the research team precisely analyzed the thermal, structural, and chemical properties of the newly synthesized liquid‑crystalline molecule and then produced a shape‑memory polymer through polymerization. This polymer could be fabricated simply using heat alone, without initiators or additives.

The developed shape‑memory polymer is expected to be applicable in everyday life, for example as a smart sensor that detects heat at high temperatures and as a smart curtain that automatically blocks solar heat.

Leading the research, doctoral student Minwoo Lim participates in the 'Odysseus' program organized by the Jeollabuk‑do Office of Education and has received two Best Presentation Awards at domestic and international conferences.

Minwoo Lim said, 'The shape‑memory polymer developed in this study is very simple to fabricate and, due to its high thermal conductivity, has a very fast actuation speed,' adding, 'I expect it to be widely applied across various fields as a new core technology in the field of shape‑memory materials.'

This research was carried out with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea's Basic Research Laboratory Support Program, the Mid‑Career Researcher Support Program, and the Nano and Materials Technology Development Program.