Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ChemLife (Artificial micro-vehicles with life-like behaviour)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-03-31
The aim of the ChemLife project is the development of artificial micro-vehicles which possess behaviour such as movement, individuality, group dynamics, sensing and signalling-reporting.
These life-like micro-vehicles have the potential to transport chemicals from one site to another and even act as chemical messengers for signal transduction. Such innovation in the field of synthetic transport at the micro-scale is achieved through the realisation of an evolving series of motile micro-units capable of moving at the air-liquid interface (droplets), swimming (submerged droplets and 3D micro-fabricated swimmers), or crawling (3D micro-fabricated walkers), with targeted biomimetic functions. To achieve this ambitious task, ChemLife will address three overall objectives as outlined below:
1: Understanding the principles of self-directed or externally controlled movement in biomimetic micro-vehicles at the air-liquid interface (droplets), through liquid (submerged droplets and swimmers), and liquid-solid interface (walkers);
2: Harnessing the power of these vehicles to perform advanced biomimetic functions at specific locations such as; triggered release of molecular cargo, fusion of vehicles, localised reactions, remote signalling, sensing and reporting, diagnosis and repair;
3: Integrating these functionalities to create networks of micro-vehicles showing collective behaviour.
These life-like micro-vehicles have the potential to transport chemicals from one site to another and even act as chemical messengers for signal transduction. Such innovation in the field of synthetic transport at the micro-scale is achieved through the realisation of an evolving series of motile micro-units capable of moving at the air-liquid interface (droplets), swimming (submerged droplets and 3D micro-fabricated swimmers), or crawling (3D micro-fabricated walkers), with targeted biomimetic functions. To achieve this ambitious task, ChemLife will address three overall objectives as outlined below:
1: Understanding the principles of self-directed or externally controlled movement in biomimetic micro-vehicles at the air-liquid interface (droplets), through liquid (submerged droplets and swimmers), and liquid-solid interface (walkers);
2: Harnessing the power of these vehicles to perform advanced biomimetic functions at specific locations such as; triggered release of molecular cargo, fusion of vehicles, localised reactions, remote signalling, sensing and reporting, diagnosis and repair;
3: Integrating these functionalities to create networks of micro-vehicles showing collective behaviour.
There are several truly novel aspects to this project which have clear potential to constitute a significant breakthrough. One of the main results achieved from the project to date is a suite of novel examples of smart droplets (micro-vehicles) which achieve autonomous and/or externally controlled movement through the use of stimuli-responsive molecules to “fuel” actuation. A second important result which constitutes a new paradigm in photonics, is the creation of soft 4D stimuli-responsive photonic actuator structures, where this strategy allows remote and real-time correlation of the extent of actuation (sub-micron changes) with the experimental colour and wavelength changes.
This project is split into four work packages and considerable progress has been made in most of the WPs, to date. WP1 focusses on the development of stimuli-responsive materials used for the development of micro-sensors, micro-actuators for bio-inspired vehicles (WP2). Several publications have already been achieved by the team as direct outputs of WP1 (Sensors 20, no. 3 (2020): 854; Macromolecular Rapid Communications 41, no. 9 (2020): 1900610; ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2019, 1, 5, 990–996; Discover Materials 1, no. 1 (2021): 1-27) and WP2 (ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2, no. 8 (2020): 3632-3641; ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11, 34, 31484–31489), with several others in preparation. WP3 focusses on the demonstration of additional functionalities, such as cargo-transport, sensing and reporting, diagnosis and repair, with several of these functions already demonstrated (published examples: ACS Nano (2020) 14, 8, 9832–9839) with several others in preparation by the ChemLife team). WP4 looks at the integration of these vehicles, responsive structures and functionalities, into microfluidic platforms to demonstrate communication and collective behaviour. This WP recently started (M25) and will continue until the end of the project (M60).
This project is split into four work packages and considerable progress has been made in most of the WPs, to date. WP1 focusses on the development of stimuli-responsive materials used for the development of micro-sensors, micro-actuators for bio-inspired vehicles (WP2). Several publications have already been achieved by the team as direct outputs of WP1 (Sensors 20, no. 3 (2020): 854; Macromolecular Rapid Communications 41, no. 9 (2020): 1900610; ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 2019, 1, 5, 990–996; Discover Materials 1, no. 1 (2021): 1-27) and WP2 (ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2, no. 8 (2020): 3632-3641; ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11, 34, 31484–31489), with several others in preparation. WP3 focusses on the demonstration of additional functionalities, such as cargo-transport, sensing and reporting, diagnosis and repair, with several of these functions already demonstrated (published examples: ACS Nano (2020) 14, 8, 9832–9839) with several others in preparation by the ChemLife team). WP4 looks at the integration of these vehicles, responsive structures and functionalities, into microfluidic platforms to demonstrate communication and collective behaviour. This WP recently started (M25) and will continue until the end of the project (M60).
Progress beyond the state of the art has been made in three important areas covered in this project: 1) 3D micro-fabrication of hierarchical structures. This includes liquid crystal elastomers with planar (manuscript in preparation) and cholesteric alignment (ACS Nano (2020) 14, 8, 9832–9839) showcasing precise structural organisation from molecular to nano to micro-scale. 2) 3D micro-fabrication of responsive photonic structures – this represents the – first example of soft, photonic structures fabricated by two-photon polymerisation, showing a reversible and fast response to external stimulation under atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure. (Journal of Materials Chemistry C, manuscript accepted) and 3) functional smart droplets showing active and passive electrotaxis (directed movement upon the application of an electric field).
The ChemLife ERC grant has allowed these advances to be made by the ChemLife team, and in collaboration with other groups (nationally and internationally), and has greatly enhanced our understanding of self-directed or externally controlled movement in biomimetic micro-vehicles, our understanding of impact of nano and sub-micron structuring on photonic properties of responsive polymers and our recognition in the field (PI has become invited speaker at important conferences in the field such as GRC Robotics 2020, MRS 2021).
The expected results by the end of the project include the generation of multi-functional micro-vehicles such as micro-droplets (medium risk; considerable progress already achieved) and microswimmers (high risk activity) and their integration into networks of micro-vehicles showing collective behaviour. This will allow us to further tailor our micro-vehicles for precise real-life application in the field of micro-robotics and medical devices.
The ChemLife ERC grant has allowed these advances to be made by the ChemLife team, and in collaboration with other groups (nationally and internationally), and has greatly enhanced our understanding of self-directed or externally controlled movement in biomimetic micro-vehicles, our understanding of impact of nano and sub-micron structuring on photonic properties of responsive polymers and our recognition in the field (PI has become invited speaker at important conferences in the field such as GRC Robotics 2020, MRS 2021).
The expected results by the end of the project include the generation of multi-functional micro-vehicles such as micro-droplets (medium risk; considerable progress already achieved) and microswimmers (high risk activity) and their integration into networks of micro-vehicles showing collective behaviour. This will allow us to further tailor our micro-vehicles for precise real-life application in the field of micro-robotics and medical devices.