Dynamic and programmable cellular-scale granules enable tissue-like materials
Abstract
Tissue-like materials are required in many robotic systems to improve human-machine interactions. However, the mechanical properties of living tissues are difficult to replicate. Synthetic materials are not usually capable of simultaneously displaying the behaviors of the cellular ensemble and the extracellular matrix. A particular challenge is identification of a cell-like synthetic component which is tightly integrated with its matrix and also responsive to external stimuli at the population level. Here, we demonstrate that cellular-scale hydrated starch granules, an underexplored component in materials science, can turn conventional hydrogels into tissue-like materials when composites are formed. Using several synchrotron-based X-ray techniques, we reveal the mechanically-induced motion and training dynamics of the starch granules in the hydrogel matrix. These dynamic behaviors enable multiple tissue-like properties such as strain-stiffening, anisotropy, mechanical heterogeneity, programmability, mechanochemistry, impact absorption, and self-healability. The starch-hydrogel composites can be processed as robotic skins that maintain these tissue-like characteristics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1911.03778,
title = {Dynamic and programmable cellular-scale granules enable tissue-like materials},
author = {Yin Fang and Endao Han and Xin-Xing Zhang and Yuanwen Jiang and Yiliang Lin and Jiuyun Shi and Jiangbo Wu and Lingyuan Meng and Xiang Gao and Philip J. Griffin and Xianghui Xiao and Hsiu-Ming Tsai and Hua Zhou and Xiaobing Zuo and Qing Zhang and Miaoqi Chu and Qingteng Zhang and Ya Gao and Leah K. Roth and Reiner Bleher and Zhiyuan Ma and Zhang Jiang and Jiping Yue and Chien-Min Kao and Chin-Tu Chen and Andrei Tokmakoff and Jin Wang and Heinrich M. Jaeger and Bozhi Tian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.03778},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
73 pages, main text and supplemental information