Photoswitches

Last updated on Jun 12, 2026
Image credit: Michael M. Lerch et al.

Photoswitches provide a molecular route to materials that can respond, adapt, and reconfigure under light. This project explores how light-responsive molecular units, such as spiropyrans, can be incorporated into soft polymer networks to regulate swelling, mechanics, and environmental response.

By connecting molecular photoisomerization to network-scale material behavior, photoswitchable hydrogels offer design principles for adaptive soft materials, optical control, and stimuli-responsive actuation.

photoswitches spiropyran hydrogels responsive materials
Soft Responsive Materials Laboratory (SRM-Lab)

My research focuses on developing new stimuli-responsive polymeric microstructured surfaces and microactuators—leveraging fundamental principles of polymer science, chemical synthesis, mechanics, and advanced nano/microfabrication techniques—for applications in miniaturized soft robotics as well as optical and mechanical meta-devices.