Fabrication of Bioinspired Actuated Nanostructures with Arbitrary Geometry and Stiffness

By B. Pokroy, A. Epstein, M. Persson-Gulda, Joanna Aizenberg. 2009

185 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Biology is replete with examples of functional structures, whose properties are unmatched in today’s man-made materials. Key features of biological structures are their dynamic nature, responsive behavior, and often multifunctionality, which all comprise the goals for the next-generation smart artificial materials. There is a growing body of information describing natural structures with sophisticated design strategies, which lend the organisms and plants superior mechanical, optical, adhesive, self-cleaning, actuation, and sensing capabilities. [1‐9] Interestingly, the common feature of these largely unrelated designs is the use of fibers and high-aspect-ratio nano- and microstructures. Nanostructures on the surface of the lotus leaf render the leaves superhydrophobic, and the droplets of water containing the collected insects and dust will roll off, and so maintain a clean leaf surface. [1] A gecko’s feet are comprised of half a million setae fibers. Each seta is tipped with ! 1000 nanometer-sized spatulae. This multiscale fibrous assembly offers a unique reversible adhesion mechanism, which holds geckos to surfaces in a self-cleaning fashion. [2,3] Complex, hierarchically structured high-aspect-ratio silica fibers in the sponge Venus’s Flower Basket provide amazing fiber‐optical capabilities, combined with superior mechanical properties. [4,5] Fish and amphibians have fibrous structures (cilia) on the surfaces of their bodies connected to a hair cell at their base that detect water flow. [6,7] Due to this sensing ability, fish can swim in narrow caves" " even without the possibility of eye sight" " and sense other organisms moving in their vicinity. [6] Echinoderms cover their skin with high-aspect-ratio spines and mobile pedicellaria, which provide an effective antifouling mechanism, preventing the settlement and growth of other organisms by active movement. [8] Pedicellaria" " small claw-like extensions on the aboral surface of starfish and sea urchins" " essentially exist as dense arrays of environmentally responsive biological m-actuators. [8]

Subfields: Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics of Materials, Surfaces, Coatings and Films

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/12b46464822d3f3681411991eebc4d8b68d2f707

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In Mechanical Engineering

In Mechanics of Materials

In Surfaces, Coatings and Films

Citations in the corpus

Nano and Microscale Topographies for the Prevention of Bacterial Surface Fouling (2014, background): “) [37–47] on a wide range of substrates, ranging from various polymeric materials (silicone, polystyrene, polyurethane, and epoxy resins) to metals and metal oxides (silicon, titanium, aluminum, silica, and gold) [21,40,45,47–55].”
A review on the progress of polymer nanostructures with modulated morphologies and properties, using nanoporous AAO templates (2016, background): “They found that the dynamic behavior of PDMS was strongly affected by the confinement and followed a two-phase model: one phase consisted of free bulk-like chains and the other phase was conformed by confined polymers.”
Multiphysics modelling of manufacturing processes: A review (2018, background): “Examples of functional nanostructures are well known from nature, where organisms and plants possess optical, adhesive and self-cleaning capabilities.(123) The scientific literature is rich in examples of advanced materials emulating the well-known super-hydrophobic effect of the lotus leaf(124) and”