DMREF: Programmable Chemomechanical Materials

非技术性总结这个项目从七鳃鳗的蜿蜒运动中获得灵感，其中沿着脊柱向下的神经元被依次激发，导致肌肉组织收缩，从而推动七鳃鳗。这种行为背后的基本原理是理解的，这个团队试图设计具有这些生命物质特性的非生命材料。他们将开发纯合成材料，这些材料将自动运行，仅由化学驱动，而无需电力，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，这项工作将建立一个新的范式，精确和可编程的化学控制的羽翼未丰的领域的软机器人，其中软，组织状材料取代刚性，硬材料，现在发现在机器人在工厂flores.Technical总结该项目的目标是开发纯合成，化学机械材料，模仿生物过程，如心跳，在可编程的速率和节奏。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，使材料工程能够进行化学控制和化学机械转导。这项研究将解决化学机械材料设计中的两个基本挑战。首先是了解和发展的氧化还原敏感的凝胶，可以驱动力的体积转变的机制。从一系列有前途的构建模块中选择的材料将在纳米到毫米的长度尺度上进行探测，以充分阐明凝胶结构和动力学。这些发现将被输入到原子和介观计算机模型中，这反过来将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，该机制由一系列微米级的分隔反应器组成，这些反应器包含振荡化学反应，并通过扩散物理联网。耦合控制和致动子系统将产生化学响应凝胶，其可以与可预测和可调的化学活性一致地改变体积。这种材料将具有迄今为止仅在生物中发现的属性，例如哺乳动物舌头的柔韧性，人类肠道的脉动收缩，以及植物的向日性。因此，这项工作将建立一个新的范式，精确和可编程的化学机械控制的软机器人的新兴领域。

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.