Project description
Muscle-inspired materials with improved properties
Muscles are characterised by an unparalleled combination of adaptability, mechanical resistance and softness at the same time. Synthetic materials inspired by natural muscles are expected to find many applications in robotics and medicine. Scientists of the EU-funded SAM project will develop such materials from stimuli-responsive hydrogels (SRHs) that have the ability to change their volume in response to light or temperature. To overcome poor mechanical resistance issues associated with SRHs, researchers will combine these polymers with colloidal particles offering a directional expansion and contraction capacity. The project will generate a platform for the synthesis of inexpensive and biocompatible materials.
Objective
The development of bioinspired materials that mimic animal muscles is a key step in the advancement of several scientific fields, including robotics and medicine. Muscles exhibit a unique combination of softness, mechanical resistance, adaptability and the ability to undergo large anisotropic deformations, which is so far unmatched in artificial materials. This action will develop a novel class of nanocomposite materials that mimic natural muscles by combining stimuli-responsive hydrogels (SRH) and colloidal liquid crystals (CLC).
SRHs consist of a network of stimuli-responsive polymer chains and a high fraction of water. By changing the solubility of the polymer with stimuli such as temperature and light it is possible to control the amount of water in the network, thereby producing large volumetric variations. SRHs are soft and shape-compliant actuating materials like muscles, but they generally exhibit poor mechanical resistance and the volumetric expansion has no preferential direction. These limitations will be overcome by attaching the stimuli-responsive polymer chains to anisotropic colloidal particles and assembling these building blocks in a uniaxially oriented manner like CLCs. The resulting nanocomposites will be soft, yet strong, capable of actuation-like conventional SRHs, and their expansion/contraction will be directional, thanks to the preferred orientation of the colloidal particles.
The proposed platform will rely on rod-like cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) that will be decorated with cross-linkable poly-N-isopropylacrylamide chains bearing photoresponsive spiropyran units (poly-spiropyrans, PSPs). CNCs are inexpensive, biocompatible and can be easily extracted from renewable resources, while PSPs are known to form photoresponsive hydrogels. The combination of these elements and integration into uniaxially oriented structures will afford a novel class of soft actuators that will bring significant advancement to fields like robotics and medicine.
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 polymer sciences
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials nanocrystals
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics
- engineering and technology materials engineering nanocomposites
- engineering and technology materials engineering liquid crystals
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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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.
1700 Fribourg
Switzerland
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.