DMREF: Programmable Chemomechanical Materials

该项目从七鳃鳗的弯曲运动中获得灵感，在这种运动中，沿脊柱向下的神经元按顺序兴奋，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已经被理解，这个团队试图设计出具有生命物质这些特性的非生命材料。他们将开发纯合成材料，这些材料将自动运行，完全由化学驱动，不需要电、计算机或马达。这些材料将执行多种功能，并由外部触发来修改其行为。因此，这项工作将为刚起步的软机器人领域建立一个精确和可编程化学控制的新范例，在这个领域中，柔软的、类似组织的材料取代了现在在工厂地板上的机器人中发现的坚硬材料。技术概述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，如心脏的跳动。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，使材料工程能够进行化学控制和化学力学转导。本研究将解决化学机械材料设计中的两个基本挑战。首先是理解和发展氧化还原敏感凝胶中体积转变的机制，通过这种机制可以驱动力。为了充分阐明凝胶的结构和动力学，我们将对从纳米到毫米不等的长度尺度上的材料进行研究。这些发现将被输入到原子和介观计算机模型中，这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，该机制由一组微米级隔间反应器组成，这些反应器包含振荡化学反应，并通过扩散在物理上联网。耦合控制和驱动子系统将产生化学反应凝胶，可以根据可预测和可调的化学活性改变体积。这些材料将具有迄今为止只存在于生命物质中的特性，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，这项工作将为新兴的软机器人领域建立一个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.