EAGER: New superdiffusive pastes from self-motile active particles with extreme penetration capabilities enabling breakthrough biomedical technologies

这个EAGER项目将寻求证明在自推进活性粒子领域新的高风险，高回报，跨学科想法的可行性。这些新型粒子可以将其内部的化学能或来自外部场的能量转化为运动。这些能动的颗粒具有极不寻常的性质，可以形成具有非常高的效率和根本性改进的性能的新生物医学产品的基础。然而，目前的活性粒子类型复杂或需要特殊的推进介质。该项目将探索新型的活性颗粒，这些颗粒将通过简单的渗透效应推动自己，而一部分颗粒溶解在介质中。由这种称为“超扩散膏”的颗粒制成的新系统将具有非凡的特性，能够快速渗透任何具有互连孔的介质，注入任何缝隙、孔和腔，因为活动颗粒移动通过孔网络。该系统可用于在具有挑战性的情况下递送化合物。 例如，含有消毒剂的超扩散糊剂能够穿透复杂的牙齿内部通道网络，杀死隐藏在该网络中的微生物。EAGER项目将探索无需外部能源或特殊介质的粒子自推进的新物理原理，并通过构建超扩散糊剂形式的新型悬浮液来应用这些原理。超扩散膏的引入可能会引发新的基础研究领域，因为在这种新颖的活性粒子系统中会出现各种各样的质量传输效应。最具探索性和跨学科的元素将是超扩散膏在生物医学系统中的应用。具体而言，该项目将寻求证明超扩散糊剂的高渗透能力可以导致未来的变革性产品，用于对开放的牙齿，组织和伤口进行消毒。新型糊剂的开发将与经验丰富的牙科研究人员合作完成。该项目更广泛的影响包括为新兴活性材料领域的新的多样化工程学生群体提供培训场所。这些学生将掌握多学科的主题，从化学工程，设计新的活性材料，他们的翻译到生物医学用途。它也将有助于研究团队正在进行的活动，最大限度地提高本科生和研究生研究人员的多样性，并为动手推广示范准备诱人的材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This EAGER project will seek to prove the feasibility of new high-risk, high-reward, interdisciplinary ideas in the field of self-propelling active particles. These new classes of particles can convert their internal chemical energy, or energy from external fields, into motion. The motile particles have highly unusual properties and can form the basis of new biomedical products with very high efficiency and radically improved performance. However, the present types of active particles are complicated or require a special medium for propulsion. This project will explore new types of active particles, which will propel themselves by simple osmotic effects, while a portion of the particles dissolve in the medium. A new system made of such particles called a “superdiffusive paste” will have extraordinary properties in being able to rapidly permeate any medium with interconnected pores, infusing any crevice, pore, and cavity, as the motile particles move through the pore network. This system could be used to deliver compounds in challenging situations. For example, a superdiffusive paste loaded with disinfectant will be able to penetrate the complex inner channel network of teeth and kill microbes concealed within this network.This EAGER project will explore new physical principles for particle self-propulsion without an external source of energy or special media and will apply these principles by constructing a new type of suspension in the form of a superdiffusive paste. The introduction of the superdiffusive paste could spark new areas of fundamental research due to the rich variety of mass-transport effects that will emerge in such novel active particle systems. The most exploratory and interdisciplinary element will be the application of the superdiffusive paste in biomedical systems. Specifically, the project will seek to demonstrate that the high permeation capability of the superdiffusive paste can lead to future transformative products for disinfection of open teeth, tissues, and wounds. The development of the novel paste will be done in collaboration with experienced dental investigators. The broader impacts of the project include providing training ground for a new diverse group of engineering students in the emerging areas of active materials. These students will master multidisciplinary topics ranging from chemical engineering, to design of new active materials, to their translation to biomedical use. It will also contribute to the research team's ongoing activity in maximizing undergraduate and graduate researcher diversity and preparing enticing materials for hands-on outreach demonstrations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.