Project description
A fundamental understanding of natural responsive photonic systems
Across our planet, from land and air to soil and water, organisms in a variety of ecosystems and climates have developed the ability to morph their colour, reflectivity, and visibility to signal, camouflage, mimic, distract, or even regulate biological processes. Unfortunately, creating true synthetic analogues has not been achievable due to the complexity of these systems. The ERC-funded BIO4D project aims to gain a fundamental understanding of these processes and develop an accurate biomimetic model of natural, responsive photonic systems. To achieve this, it will develop innovative, responsive 3D photonic structures utilising self-ordering photonic nanomaterials, combined with state-of-the-art 3D nano- and micro-scale fabrication, to enable a variety of dynamic photonic behaviours.
Objective
BIO4D aims to achieve a fundamental understanding and develop a true biomimetic model of natural responsive photonic systems. From air (Paradise bird) to land (Panther chameleon), and soil (Hoplia Argentea beetle) to water (Neon Tetra fish), nature has enabled organisms to morph their colour, visibility, and reflectivity, to camouflage, signal, mimic, distract, and regulate biological processes. Due to the complexities of these systems, true synthetic analogues have not been achievable to date. BIO4D will develop novel responsive 3D photonic structures by combining self-ordering photonic nanomaterials with state-of-the-art 3D fabrication at the nano and micro-scale. This will enable dynamic photonic behaviour including controllable refractive index, adaptable reflectivity and transmission, angle independency, and stimuli response. This highly ambitious goal will be achieved by:
-Developing self-ordered photonic nanomaterials in stimuli responsive hydrogel networks.
-Understanding the effect of combining photonic substructures and superstructures (fabricated via 2-photon polymerisation) using Finite-difference time-domain analysis.
-Fabricating biomimetic 3D photonic structures from composite hydrogels, using 2-photon polymerisation.
-Demonstrating 4D photonic structures that show on-demand dynamic optical response.
This will enable truly biomimetic models through self-ordering nanomaterials (modelling keratin and chitin), stimuli-responsive materials (modelling motor proteins and actin filaments) and 3D direct laser writing (yielding ordered and disordered superstructures). These stimuli-responsive photonic structures will offer a direct pathway to applications in active display technologies, biometric recognition, polarisation encryption, and extremely low-cost sensing in liquid and gas. The fundamental breakthroughs that will be achieved will be far reaching in materials development, chemistry, and physics.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry noble gases
- engineering and technology materials engineering colors
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
D02 CX56 Dublin
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.