Bio-Inspired complex and adaptive materials and surfaces

仿生复杂和适应性材料和表面

• 批准号: 2323525
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2323525
• 关键词: Bio; Inspired; complex; adaptive; materials

Nature produces hierarchical and complex nanostuctures and patterns through the self assembly of polymeric building blocks. Using such strategies, nature managed to showcase an array of truly magnificent iridescent structural colouration in beetles-Chrysina gloriosa, and butterflies-Morpho rhetenor and even some plants-Pollia Condensata and Margaritaria Nobilis. Furthermore, hierarchical natural composites demonstrate crucial examples of lightweight, strong, stiff, and tough materials, such as pine cones, wood and nacre to name a few examples of the diversity of the mechanical properties that can be achieved through self-assembly and mineralization.Inspired by nature's smart strategies of fabrication of colour as well the dynamical changes, the aim of this PhD project is to develop soft composites of cellulose based liquid crystals that at equilibrium and present a colour response against the changes in its environment such as chemistry, temperature, mechanical strain etc. While natural materials themselves have impressive credentials, the atomic palette of nature is quite limited. For example, natural systems do not produce metallic surfaces, or produce electric and magnetic fields. Therefore, using biomimetic structured materials as scaffolds to combine the nano-structure of the biopolymers with the optical and electronic properties of the synthetic nanoparticles and soft matter systems will allow us to bring even more functionality to those systems. At the core of Tadeusz's PhD project he is targeting to develop critical understanding on the colloidal particle assembly dynamics; this is a complex topic and presents strong alignment with the EPSRC themes around Soft Matter Physics, functional ceramic, hybrid and inorganic materials.This project is requires development of lab based skills initially therefore , Tadeusz will develop the cellulosic different building blocks that assemble into cholesteric form and blend in with responsive polymers and functional materials either using back filling method or reactive co-assembly methods to achieve the desired optical, chemical and mechanical sensitivities. In order to tune the colour response is a critical function of understanding of how supramolecular architectures of cellulose nanofibrils assemble into complex hierarchical materials in real-time. Therefore, Tadeusz will construct an optical microscopy set-up that has capability of direct observation of the self-assembly whilst taking spectral information from the microscopy image. Furthermore, Tadeusz's work will require developing processing techniques and instrumentation to fabricate, control and characterise the chemical, optical and mechanical behaviour of the new structures with switchable optical (dynamic colour changing systems) and mechanical (shape memory, shape adaptive and self-healing) properties. The methods that are used in this work will supply new approaches in EPSRC's development of novel characterization and simulation tools for the understanding of biological processes and Analytical sciences themes for Materials Engineering and Composites.

大自然通过聚合物构建块的自组装产生了层次化和复杂的纳米结构和图案。利用这些策略，大自然成功地在甲虫身上展示了一系列真正华丽的彩虹结构色彩--金龟子，蝴蝶--Morpho matenor，甚至一些植物--Pollia conflata和Margaritaria Nobilis。此外，层次化的天然复合材料展示了轻质、坚固、坚硬和坚韧的材料的关键例子，例如松果、木材和珍珠层，这些材料可以通过自组装和矿化实现机械性能的多样性。受大自然巧妙的颜色制造策略以及动态变化的启发，该博士项目的目标是开发基于纤维素的液晶软复合材料，这些复合材料处于平衡状态，并针对其环境的变化(如化学、温度、机械应变等)呈现颜色反应。虽然天然材料本身具有令人印象深刻的资历，但大自然的原子调色板非常有限。例如，自然系统不会产生金属表面，也不会产生电场和磁场。因此，利用仿生结构材料作为支架，将生物聚合物的纳米结构与合成纳米颗粒和软物质系统的光学和电子特性结合起来，将使我们能够为这些系统带来更多的功能。作为Tadeusz博士项目的核心，他的目标是发展对胶体粒子组装动力学的批判性理解；这是一个复杂的主题，与EPSRC围绕软物质物理、功能陶瓷、混合材料和无机材料的主题非常一致。该项目最初需要基于实验室的技能开发，因此，Tadeusz将开发组装成胆甾体形式的纤维素不同构件，并使用回填方法或反应性共组装方法与响应性聚合物和功能材料混合，以获得所需的光学、化学和机械灵敏度。为了调节颜色响应，实时了解纤维素纳米原纤维的超分子结构如何组装成复杂的分级材料是一项关键功能。因此，Tadeusz将建造一个光学显微镜装置，该装置具有直接观察自组装的能力，同时从显微镜图像中获取光谱信息。此外，Tadeusz的工作将需要开发加工技术和仪器，以制造、控制和表征具有可切换光学(动态变色系统)和机械(形状记忆、形状自适应和自我修复)属性的新结构的化学、光学和机械行为。这项工作中使用的方法将为EPSRC开发新的表征和模拟工具提供新的途径，以了解材料工程和复合材料的生物过程和分析科学主题。