NIRT: Bio-inspired Actuating Structures

摘要0507151生物学对工程问题有显著的解决方案。在流体流动的背景下，生物体广泛采用拍打纤毛以实现自我推进和移动流体以实现颗粒运输和进食的策略。 对于集成生化设备的工程设计，需要用于执行流体操作（例如推进、混合和分离）的解决方案。研究人员将继续研究作为合成纤毛表面的纳米棒片的创建和驱动，并研究它们的特性，重点是流体动力学和微流体应用。他们将开发材料和工艺，以在片材和微流体系统中创建致动纤毛的受控图案。他们将通过复杂的流体建模和纳米级流体运动跟踪相结合来研究纳米棒产生的流体动力学。该项目将开发生物学如何移动流体的新理解，以及我们如何反过来设计这种结构，用于新的紧凑型分析和医疗技术应用。该计划将创建一个教育显微镜和纳米技术开放实验室，允许初中和高中教师远程访问AFM，以探索纤毛等生物样品，并探索工程结构的磁弹性体化合物。

Abstract 0507151Biology has remarkable solutions to engineering problems. In the context of fluid flows, organisms widely adopt the strategy of beating cilia for self-propulsion and to move fluids for particulate transport and feeding. For the engineering of integrated biochemical devices, solutions are needed for performing fluidic operations such as propulsion, mixing and separation. The investigators will pursue the creation and actuation of sheets of nanorods that serve as synthetic ciliated surfaces, and study their properties with a focus on fluid dynamics and applications in microfluidics. They will develop materials and processing to create controlled patterning of actuating cilia in sheets and within microfluidic systems. They will study the fluid dynamics generated by nanorods through a combination of sophisticated fluid modeling and nanoscale tracking of fluid motion. This project will develop both a new understanding of how biology moves fluids and how, in turn, we can engineer such structures for new compact analytical and medical technology applications. This program will create an educational microscopy and nanotechnology open lab that will allow middle and high school teachers remote access to the AFM to explore biological samples such as cilia and to explore magnetoelastomer compounds for engineered structures.