DMREF: Programmable Chemomechanical Materials

非技术性总结这个项目从七鳃鳗蜿蜒的运动中获得灵感，在这个运动中，沿着脊柱向下移动的神经元被顺序地兴奋，导致肌肉收缩，从而推动七鳗鱼。这种行为背后的基本原理已经被理解，这个团队试图设计出具有生物物质这些属性的非生物材料。他们将开发纯合成材料，这种材料将自动运行，完全由化学驱动，不需要电力、计算机或马达。这些材料将执行多种功能，并被外部触发以修改其行为。因此，这项工作将为羽翼未丰的软机器人领域建立一种精确和可编程的化学控制新范例，在软机器人领域，软组织状材料将取代现在工厂地板上的机器人中存在的刚性硬材料。技术总结该项目的目标是开发纯合成的化学机械材料，以可编程的速度和节奏模拟生物过程，如心脏跳动。长期目标是阐明基于反应扩散化学的活性软物质的基本物理原理，使能够进行化学控制和化学机械转导的材料工程成为可能。这项研究将解决化学机械材料设计中的两个基本挑战。第一个是理解和发展氧化还原敏感凝胶中的体积转变机制，通过这种机制可以驱动作用力。从一系列有希望的构建块中挑选出来的材料将被探测从纳米到毫米的长度尺度，以充分阐明凝胶的结构和动力学。这些发现将被输入原子和介观计算机模型，这些模型将反过来为具有理想性能的下一代材料的化学合成提供信息。第二个挑战是设计一种控制机制，由一系列微米级的隔间反应堆组成，这些反应堆包含一个振荡的化学反应，并通过扩散物理上联网。耦合控制和驱动子系统将产生化学响应凝胶，这种凝胶可以随着可预测和可调节的化学活性而改变体积。这类材料将具有迄今为止仅在生物中发现的属性，如哺乳动物舌头的灵活性，人类肠道的搏动性收缩，以及植物的向日性。因此，这项工作将为羽翼未丰的软机器人领域建立一种精确和可编程的化学机械控制的新范例。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis project draws inspiration from the sinuous motion of a lamprey, in which neurons running down the spinal column are excited in sequence causing the musculature to contract, thereby propelling the lamprey. The fundamental principles underlying this behavior are understood, and this team seeks to engineer nonliving materials that possess these properties of living matter. They will develop purely synthetic materials that will operate autonomously, driven solely by chemistry without electricity, computers, or motors. These materials will execute multiple functions and be externally triggered to modify their behavior. Thus, this work will establish a new paradigm of precise and programmable chemical control for the fledgling field of soft robotics, in which soft, tissue-like materials replace the rigid, hard materials now found in robots on factory floors.TECHNICAL SUMMARYThe objective of the project is to develop purely synthetic, chemomechanical materials that emulate biological processes, such as the beating of a heart, at programmable rates and rhythms. The long-term goal is to elucidate the fundamental physical principles of active soft matter based on reaction-diffusion chemistry, enabling engineering of materials capable of chemical control and chemomechanical transduction. This research will address two fundamental challenges in the design of chemomechanical materials. The first is to understand and develop mechanisms of volume transitions in redox-sensitive gels, by which forces can be actuated. Materials engineered from a selection of promising building blocks will be probed over length scales ranging from nanometers to millimeters in order to fully elucidate gel structure and dynamics. These findings will be fed into atomistic and mesoscopic computer models, which will in turn inform the chemical synthesis of next-generation materials with desirable properties. The second challenge is to engineer a control mechanism comprised of an array of micron-scale compartmentalized reactors that contain an oscillating chemical reaction, and are physically networked via diffusion. Coupling the control and actuation sub-systems will yield chemically responsive gels that can change volume in concert with predictable and tunable chemical activity. Such materials will have attributes heretofore found only in living matter, such as flexibility in mammalian tongues, pulsatile contractions in human intestines, and heliotropism in plants. Thus, this work will establish a new paradigm of precise and programmable chemomechanical control for the fledgling field of soft robotics.