Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The mechanical properties of materials, e.g., elastic modulus and hardness, are important for many engineering applications. Here, we introduce a hierarchically ordered structure (HOS) polymer system that exhibits exceptionally large, reversible changes in mechanical behavior upon electrochemical lithiation and delithiation. Full lithiation of the HOS polymer induces a substantial mechanical transition from polymer-like to metal-like attributes, yielding a 10-fold increase in elastic modulus and a 3-fold increase in hardness, with values comparable to those of aluminum. Upon removal of Li + ions, the elastic modulus and hardness return to nearly pristine polymer levels, and this transformation remains highly repeatable over many electrochemical cycles. Reversible transitions between polymer-like and metal-like mechanical behaviors offer a new pathway for engineering materials for applications that require tunable mechanical properties, such as soft robotics and stimuli-responsive systems.
Source: Nano Letters
Authors: Santosh Thapa, Defu Li, Gao Liu, Yang-Tse Cheng
Institutions: University of Kentucky, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, University of Kentucky, Toyota Research Institute, Toyota Research Institute, North America, Office of Science, Division of Materials Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Vehicle Technologies Office, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W7135016278