Public Abstract

DE-SC0005247: Opto-chemo-mechanical energy transduction in biomimetic ensembles of reconfigurable microparticles of liquid crystal elastomers

Award Status: Active

Institution: President and Fellows of Harvard College (Harvard Medical School), Boston, MA
UEI: JDLVAVGYJQ21
DUNS: 047006379

Most Recent Award Date: 04/04/2024
Number of Support Periods: 15
PM: Gimm, Aura

Current Budget Period: 05/15/2024 - 05/14/2025
Current Project Period: 05/15/2023 - 05/14/2026
PI: Aizenberg, Joanna

Supplement Budget Period: N/A

Public Abstract

Proposal Number: 0000271804 Project Title: Opto-chemo-mechanical energy transduction in biomimetic ensembles of reconfigurable microparticles of liquid crystal elastomers Lead PI: Joanna Aizenberg (Harvard) Public Abstract The organization, manipulation, and conversion of matter, energy, and information in individual entities and in swarms play a crucial role in the functions of living systems, such as motion, reconfiguration, and communication. Inspired by this behavior in living systems, we will conceptualize, create and investigate new bioinspired materials, which convert energy inputs into a wide variety of actions, which are controlled by external or environmental stimuli and through self-regulation. In particular, we will develop materials systems that have as their central elements responsive microcapsules composed of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) – elastic, stretchable and deformable materials equipped with the ability to respond to temperature and light. Each individual capsule is a microactuator; it can act as a standalone entity, as a member of a collective or swarm, or as a part of a composite material containing multiple, individually addressable actuators positioned within an active fiber. The fiber itself can also be designed to respond to stimuli by reconfiguring, reshaping, and carrying out useful work, all through controlled and/or self-regulated energy transduction mechanisms converting inputs of temperature and light into active mechanical outputs. These individual LCE capsules can be fabricated on scale, with different compositions, sizes, types and amounts of encased light-responsive elements, and, critically, with locally or globally imposed molecular alignment of the mesogens - the key moieties responsible for the various LCEs’ reconfiguration patterns. Our approaches will allow us to create these capsules with a range of shapes, from spherical to various finely controlled geometries, (with different degrees of ellipticity, as cylinders, drums or dog-bones) that display individual or ensemble modes of deformation. We will investigate the unique features of these capsules to develop spore-like surface buckling patterns and to grow tentacle-like structures. We anticipate that the growth behavior will be highly dependent not only on the nature and overall shape of the microcapsules, but also on imposed buckling patterns, which will break symmetry in the system. For these fundamental studies, we will take advantage of *Aizenberg’s* expertise in the development of new adaptive materials coupled with computational models devised by *Balazs. Together we will pursue the following research objectives. - To design synthetic pathways to novel LCE-gel composites that will produce a library of reconfigurable LCE microcapsules with modular geometries and chemistries, which are engineered to be temperature- and light-responsive. - To probe the complex parameter space governing the dynamic behavior of these active microparticles, including factors that control the appearance of intricate shapes with surface patterns and spore-like deformabilites. - To build theoretical models capturing key features of the responses observed experimentally, validate the models, and use the validated models for predicting new individual and swarm behaviors of our systems and for guiding further iterative experimentation. The objectives of these studies are well aligned with the mission of the DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program “to support* fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies”, and the Biomolecular Materials Program’s emphasis on “self-directed, and dissipative assembly to form resilient materials with self-regulating capabilities such as reconfiguration of morphology and function”. This integrated research program¸ including both experimental and computational approaches, will address important challenges in understanding the links between molecular structure of next-generation designs of adaptive and active materials and their function across different length scales.

Proposal Number: 0000271804

Project Title: Opto-chemo-mechanical energy transduction in biomimetic ensembles of reconfigurable microparticles of liquid crystal elastomers

Lead PI: Joanna Aizenberg (Harvard)

Public Abstract

The organization, manipulation, and conversion of matter, energy, and information in individual entities and in swarms play a crucial role in the functions of living systems, such as motion, reconfiguration, and communication. Inspired by this behavior in living systems, we will conceptualize, create and investigate new bioinspired materials, which convert energy inputs into a wide variety of actions, which are controlled by external or environmental stimuli and through self-regulation. In particular, we will develop materials systems that have as their central elements responsive microcapsules composed of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) – elastic, stretchable and deformable materials equipped with the ability to respond to temperature and light. Each individual capsule is a microactuator; it can act as a standalone entity, as a member of a collective or swarm, or as a part of a composite material containing multiple, individually addressable actuators positioned within an active fiber. The fiber itself can also be designed to respond to stimuli by reconfiguring, reshaping, and carrying out useful work, all through controlled and/or self-regulated energy transduction mechanisms converting inputs of temperature and light into active mechanical outputs. These individual LCE capsules can be fabricated on scale, with different compositions, sizes, types and amounts of encased light-responsive elements, and, critically, with locally or globally imposed molecular alignment of the mesogens - the key moieties responsible for the various LCEs’ reconfiguration patterns. Our approaches will allow us to create these capsules with a range of shapes, from spherical to various finely controlled geometries, (with different degrees of ellipticity, as cylinders, drums or dog-bones) that display individual or ensemble modes of deformation. We will investigate the unique features of these capsules to develop spore-like surface buckling patterns and to grow tentacle-like structures. We anticipate that the growth behavior will be highly dependent not only on the nature and overall shape of the microcapsules, but also on imposed buckling patterns, which will break symmetry in the system.

For these fundamental studies, we will take advantage of Aizenberg’s expertise in the development of new adaptive materials coupled with computational models devised by Balazs. Together we will pursue the following research objectives.

- To design synthetic pathways to novel LCE-gel composites that will produce a library of reconfigurable LCE microcapsules with modular geometries and chemistries, which are engineered to be temperature- and light-responsive.

- To probe the complex parameter space governing the dynamic behavior of these active microparticles, including factors that control the appearance of intricate shapes with surface patterns and spore-like deformabilites.

- To build theoretical models capturing key features of the responses observed experimentally, validate the models, and use the validated models for predicting new individual and swarm behaviors of our systems and for guiding further iterative experimentation.

The objectives of these studies are well aligned with the mission of the DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program “to support fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies”, and the Biomolecular Materials Program’s emphasis on “self-directed, and dissipative assembly to form resilient materials with self-regulating capabilities such as reconfiguration of morphology and function”. This integrated research program¸ including both experimental and computational approaches, will address important challenges in understanding the links between molecular structure of next-generation designs of adaptive and active materials and their function across different length scales.