Mechanically Responsive Polymers

Objective

"“Intelligent” polymers which change their properties “on command”, that is upon exposure to a pre-defined stimulus in a highly selective and reversible manner, are of considerable academic interest and attractive for countless technologically relevant applications. Many examples of chemically, thermally, electrically, optically, or electrically responsive materials are known, but only few polymers have been studied, which respond in a useful and predictable manner to the exposure of mechanical stress.
The here-proposed program targets the design, synthesis, processing, exploration and exploitation of a radically new family of bio-inspired, mechanically responsive polymers in which mechanical stress provides the activation energy to trigger specific pre-programmed chemical reactions. These reactions, in turn, will be used to bestow polymers with unusual and previously unavailable functionalities, such as mechanical morphing, mechanically induced generation of light, mechanically controlled cell growth, auto-lubricating behavior, and the ability to release small molecules such as drugs, fragrances and antiseptics.
A three-pronged research approach is proposed. Thrust 1 will investigate carefully selected model systems with the aim to advance the predictive understanding for the relationships between the chemical structure of the mechanically responsive motifs or “mechanophores”, their connectivity with a matrix polymer, the morphology and mechanical properties of the system, and the mechanoresponse. Thrust 2 focuses on the exploration of new mechanophores and mechanochemical transduction schemes. Thrust 3 will apply the knowledge generated for the creation of novel materials that offer a wide variety of new and interesting functionalities.
The knowledge generated through these efforts will provide a broad intellectual basis for the future design, of advanced functional materials based on mechanochemical transduction schemes."

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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

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.

• ERC-AG-PE5 - ERC Advanced Grant - Materials and Synthesis

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2011-ADG_20110209
See other projects for this call

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.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)