Collaborative Research: Sub-Voxel Molecular Patterning of Actuators and Photonic Structures in 3-Dimensional Free-Forms

该补助金支持宏观聚合物结构的3D打印研究，该结构具有可以在亚微米尺度上定义的工程分子顺序。分子工程结构具有不寻常的光学和机械性能，易于打印的结构具有任意形状因子，可以改善许多应用领域。这些属性包括可以响应周围环境而改变的结构颜色，以及创建从环境刺激产生机械功的人造肌肉的能力。控制可打印材料中的分子结构和组成是实现这些功能的关键。基础研究的进展可以使软机器人在3D打印结构中集成执行器和传感器。自感驱动和光学报告变形状态的能力允许在软机器人中开发新的控制策略。这将是它们在未来微创手术医疗设备和需要操作易碎物体的工业应用中潜在应用的关键。这项研究还将为本科生和研究生提供培训机会，他们将接触到使用活性软物质制造的新兴概念。针对K-12级别的推广活动将优先考虑传统上代表性不足的群体。该项目将控制立体光刻印刷系统中表面锚定、磁介导对准和液晶单体手性自组装之间的相互作用。单体的结构和组成对3D打印体素中的手性有序度的影响将被理解为打印参数的函数。工艺-结构关系将被用于体素化自由几何形状中的平面内和贯穿厚度的蓝图微结构。将探索可以实施分子图案化的分辨率的基本限制。这将用于告知光学和机械特性的空间，以及它们对所施加刺激的敏感性。最终，这项研究设想了3D打印结构，能够变形和自我报告状态的观察者通过耦合的机械响应的光学性能。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

This grant supports research into the 3D printing of macroscopic polymeric structures with an engineered molecular order that can be defined at the sub-micrometer-scale. The molecularly engineered structures with unusual optical and mechanical properties in easily printed structures with arbitrary form factors could improve many application areas. These properties include structural color that can change in response to the surrounding environment and the ability to create artificial muscles that generate mechanical work from an ambient stimulus. Control of the molecular structure and composition in printable materials is the key enabler of these functionalities. Fundamental research advances can enable soft robots that integrate actuators and sensors within a 3D printed structure. The ability to self-sense actuation and optically report deformation state allows for the development of new control strategies in soft robots. This will be key to their potential applications in future medical devices for minimally invasive surgery and industrial applications that require manipulation of fragile objects. This research will also result in training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students who will be exposed to emerging concepts in manufacturing with active soft matter. Outreach initiatives targeted at the K-12 levels will prioritize inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups.This project will control the interplay between surface anchoring, magnetically-mediated alignment, and chiral self-assembly of liquid crystal monomers in a stereolithographic printing system. The effect of the monomer’s structure and composition on the chiral nematic order in 3D printed voxels will be understood as a function of the printing parameters. Process-structure relationships will be used to voxelate the blueprinted microstructure both in-plane and through-thickness in freeform geometries. Fundamental limits on the resolution at which the molecular patterning can be enforced will be explored. This will be used to inform the space of optical and mechanical properties, as well as their sensitivity to an applied stimulus. Ultimately, this study envisions 3D printed structures that are capable of morphing and self-reporting state to an observer via a coupling of the mechanical responses to the optical properties.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.