Related papers: Hydroelastomers: soft, tough, highly swelling comp…
Hydrogel consists of a crosslinked polymer matrix imbibed with a solvent such as water at volume fractions that can exceed 90\%. They are important in many scientific and engineering applications due to their tunable physiochemical…
The interface of a soft hydrogel is easily deformed when it is in contact with particles, droplets or cells. Here we compute the intricate shapes of hydrogel menisci due to the indentation of point particles. The analysis is based on a free…
Grasping, in both biological and engineered mechanisms, can be highly sensitive to the gripper and object morphology, as well as perception, and motion planning. Here we circumvent the need for feedback or precise planning by using an array…
The formation and destabilisation of viscoelastic filaments are of importance in many industrial and biological processes. Filament instabilities have been observed for viscoelastic fluids but recently also for soft elastic solids. In this…
Active materials capable of autonomously modulating their mechanical properties are foundational to the development of next-generation soft technologies. Here, we introduce a novel class of extensible biohybrid hydrogels powered by living…
Colloidal particles dispersed in liquid crystals can form new materials with tunable elastic and electro-optic properties. In a periodic `blue phase' host, particles should template into colloidal crystals with potential uses in photonics,…
Composites are ideally suited to achieve desirable multifunctional effective properties since the best properties of different materials can be judiciously combined with designed microstructures. Here we establish cross-property relations…
Shape morphing magnetic soft materials, composed of magnetic particles in a soft polymer matrix, can transform shapes reversibly, remotely, and rapidly, finding diverse applications in actuators, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. To…
The ordering of nanoparticles into predetermined configurations is of importance to the design of advanced technologies. In this work, we moderate the surface anchoring against the bulk elasticity of liquid crystals to dynamically shape…
We use a continuous mesoscopic model to address the yielding properties of plastic composites, formed by a host material and inclusions with different elastic and/or plastic properties. We investigate the flow properties of the composed…
When a rigid object approaches a soft material in a viscous fluid, hydrodynamic stresses arise in the lubricated contact region and deform the soft material. The elastic deformation modifies in turn the flow, hence generating a…
Polymer composites are ideal candidates for next generation biomimetic soft materials because of their exquisite bottom-up designability. However, the richness of behaviours comes at a price: the need for precise and extensive…
Liquid crystal elastomers represent a novel class of programmable shape-transforming materials whose shape change trajectory is encoded in the material's nematic director field. Using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element…
Soft electronics are a promising and revolutionary alternative for traditional electronics when safe physical interaction between machines and the human body is required. Among various materials architectures developed for producing soft…
Photomechanical liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are responsive polymers that can convert light directly into mechanical deformation. This unique feature makes these materials an attractive candidate for soft actuators capable of remote and…
Soft and flexible conductors are essential in the development of soft robots, wearable electronics, as well as electronic tissue and implants. However, conventional soft conductors are inherently characterized by a large change in…
Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) are highly anisotropic optical materials that behave as metals or as dielectrics depending on the direction of propagation of light. They are becoming essential for a plethora of applications, ranging from…
Extrusion 3D-printing of biopolymers and natural fiber-based biocomposites allows for the fabrication of complex structures, ranging from gels for healthcare applications to eco-friendly structural materials. However, traditional polymer…
We propose a novel formulation of elastic materials based on high-order interpolants, which fits accurately complex elastic behaviors, but remains conservative. The proposed high-order interpolants can be regarded as a high-dimensional…
Thermo-responsive hydrogels are a promising material for creating controllable actuators for use in micro-scale devices, since they expand and contract significantly (absorbing or expelling fluid) in response to relatively small temperature…