Design of Environmentally Responsive Hierarchical Materials
Abstract
RESEARCH PROBLEM. Defining new nanomanufacturing strategies is instrumental to engineer the next generation of advanced materials capable of dynamically respond to environmental stimuli. The investigation of assembly process in structural proteins (e.g. silk fibroin) provides both an opportunity to learn the rules that nature uses to fabricate dynamic hierarchical materials and to nanomanufacture a technical material that can easily be interfaced with the biotic world. Our group has recently introduced templated crystallization as a novel nanomanufacturing opportunity that enables the growth of structural proteins in cm-scale hierarchical materials. Nonetheless, the method suffers from the lack of control over nanostructures epitaxial vertical growth (nanofibrils elongate along the surface and not vertically) and mesoscale organization of the nanostructures in cohesive bundles. OBJECTIVES AND TECHNICAL APPROACHES. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to define a set of rules for the design and nanomanufacturing of hierarchical materials that actively respond to environmental cues. In this proposal, we hypothesize that a combination of AI-assisted design of peptide seeds with multisystem assembly and nanoconfinement can be used to direct the growth of structural proteins in hierarchical materials. We will study assembly phenomena using quintessential mini-structural proteins and we will use them to nanomanufacture new hierarchical materials that modify their molecular structure in response to environmental stimuli. ANTICIPATED OUTCOME. We anticipate the following program outcomes: (i) Fundamental understanding of structural protein assembly in hierarchical, nanostructured materials; (ii) Definition of universal models that describe structural protein assembly and changes to environmental stimuli; (ii) Definition of new nanomanufacturing strategies to engineer nanostructured materials that can modify their function in response to environmental stimuli to perform unexpected functions. IMPACT ON DOD CAPABILITIES.Self-assembly and crystallization of structural proteins with long-range ordered spatial arrangement is ubiquitous in Nature and understanding how to replicate the construction and organization of molecules in multiscale architectures will unlock the next generation of high performing materials that can enhance US Navy capabilities, with applications in high mechanical performance, selective transport, heat dissipation and adhesion. The incorporation in these materials of co-assembly systems that dynamically and reversibly change their molecular configurations will also add merits of stimuliresponsiveness, light harvesting, and photocatalysis, which will open the door to the design of adaptive hierarchical architectures, with impact on a wide range of applications of interest to the ONR such as surface engineering, energy storage and conversion, ISR systems and dynamic compartmentalization. APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 05, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112402
Entities
People
- Benedetto Marelli
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy