1. Polymer materials showing macroscopic deformation in response to light

<Representative publications>
Sunlight-Driven Photomobile Polymer Materials Containing Push–Pull Azobenzene Moieties
T. Ube*, K. Miyamoto, S. Kurihara and T. Ikeda*
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 17, 16010-16015 (2025). DOI:10.1021/acsami.4c21123

Spatially Selective Actuation of Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Films through Two-Photon Absorption Processes
T. Ube*, S. Sasaki, K. Katayama, H. Sotome, H. Miyasaka, R. Mizutani, K. Kamada and T. Ikeda*
Nat. Commun., 15, 9430 (2024). DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-53682-8

Sunlight-Driven Smart Windows with a Wide Temperature Range of Optical Switching Based on Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals
T. Ube*, M. Yoshida, S. Kurihara, T. Ikeda*
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 16, 28638-28644 (2024). DOI:10.1021/acsami.4c04370

Inducing Motions of Polymers in Liquid Nitrogen with Light
T. Ube*, I. Suka, S. Ogikubo, G. Hashimoto, M. Suda, H. M. Yamamoto, T. Ikeda*
Adv. Mater., 35, 2306402 (2023). DOI:10.1002/adma.202306402

Photoinduced Motions of Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Containing Azobenzene Moieties in Main Chains
T. Ube*, R. Nakayama, T. Ikeda*
Macromolecules, 55, 413-420 (2022). DOI:10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01827

Photomobile Polymer Materials with Complex 3D Deformation, Continuous Motions, Self-Regulation, and Enhanced Processability
T. Ube*, T. Ikeda*
Adv. Opt. Mater., 7, 1900380 (2019). DOI:10.1002/adom.201900380

Photomobile Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers with Rearrangeable Networks
T. Ube, K. Kawasaki, T. Ikeda*
Adv. Mater, 28, 8212-8217 (2016). DOI:10.1002/adma.201602745

Photomobile Materials with Interpenetrating Polymer Network Composed of Liquid-Crystalline and Amorphous Polymers
T. Ube, K. Takado, T. Ikeda*
J. Mater. Chem. C, 3, 8006-8009 (2015). DOI:10.1039/c5tc01489a

Photomobile Polymer Materials with Crosslinked Liquid-Crystalline Structures: Molecular Design, Fabrication and Functions
T. Ube, T. Ikeda*
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 53, 10290-10299 (2014). DOI:10.1002/anie.201400513

2. Polymer / liquid crystal composites showing optical switching with light

<Representative publications>
Sunlight-Driven Smart Windows with a Wide Temperature Range of Optical Switching Based on Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals
T. Ube*, M. Yoshida, S. Kurihara, T. Ikeda*
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 16, 28638-28644 (2024). DOI:10.1021/acsami.4c04370

Sunlight-Driven Smart Windows with Polymer/Liquid Crystal Composites for Autonomous Control of Optical Properties
T. Ube*, J. Imai, M. Yoshida, T. Fujisawa, H. Hasebe, H. Takatsu, T. Ikeda*
J. Mater. Chem. C, 10, 12789-12794 (2022). DOI:10.1039/d2tc02754b

3. Block copolymers with photoresponsive groups

<Representative publications>
A Block Copolymer of Crosslinkable Polythiophene and Removable Poly(ethylene oxide) for Preparing Heterostructures of Organic Semiconductors
T. Ube, T. Kosaka, H. Okazaki, K. Nakae, T. Ikeda*
J. Mater. Chem. C, 5, 1414-1419 (2017). DOI:10.1039/c6tc04409c