Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RECONFMATTER (From colloidal joints to reconfigurable matter)

Teaser

What is the problem/issue being adressed? Currently, materials and structures made from micrometer-sized building blocks are usually rigid. They cannot adapt their shape to for example adjust to the different situation. In biology, conformational changes are widely employed to...

Summary

What is the problem/issue being adressed? Currently, materials and structures made from micrometer-sized building blocks are usually rigid. They cannot adapt their shape to for example adjust to the different situation. In biology, conformational changes are widely employed to create different functionalities in different situations. In this project, we are investigating how we can create materials and structures with flexible connections between the building blocks and how we harness this feature to create reconfigurable materials.

Why is it important for society? MIcrometer sized particles are powerful model systems that allow scientists to study otherwise complex phenomena. In this project, we investigate the implications of flexiblity on the behavior of structures to gain new insights into how for example polymers and biological molecules adapt their shape to different needs. Ultimately, we dream of using our insights to create materials with adaptable mechanical and optical properties which could be employed in sensors, actuators, advanced coatings and more complex functional devices such as microrobots.

What are the overall objectives? We will elucidate how bond flexibility can be exploited to create and understand flexibel structures. We will build small units with internal degrees of flexibility and study how they interact and organize. Finallly, we will introduce active and actuatable elements to induce a controlled switching between different configurations and create shape-changing and self-propelled structures.

Work performed

We have investigated the influence of various components required to create flexible bonds on the stability and flexiblity of the structure. We have furthermore succesfully assembled flexible colloidal molecules (small units with internal degrees of flexibility) in high yields. We investigated self-propelled elements(so-called active particles) for integration with reconfigurable structures and found that their velocity is strongly dependent on the material that they are moving on.

Final results

We are establishing a framework how to create and understand flexible structures and reconfigurable materials. This will ultimately enable us to create materials with adaptable mechanical and optical properties which could be employed in sensors, actuators, advanced coatings and more complex functional devices such as microrobots. Until the end of the current reporting period, we discovered that self-propelled particles, which are model sustems for microorganisms, show a strong dependency on the substrate\'s properties on which they are swimming. This may have implications for the design of antimicrobial surfaces, treatment of infections and understanding the swimming behavior of microorganisms in general.