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Birch E, Bridgens B, Zhang M, Dade-Robertson M. Biological, physical and morphological factors for the programming of a novel microbial hygromorphic material. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2024; 19:036018. [PMID: 38569524 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ad3a4d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
The urgency for energy efficient, responsive architectures has propelled smart material development to the forefront of scientific and architectural research. This paper explores biological, physical, and morphological factors influencing the programming of a novel microbial-based smart hybrid material which is responsive to changes in environmental humidity. Hygromorphs respond passively, without energy input, by expanding in high humidity and contracting in low humidity.Bacillus subtilisdevelops environmentally robust, hygromorphic spores which may be harnessed within a bilayer to generate a deflection response with potential for programmability. The bacterial spore-based hygromorph biocomposites (HBCs) were developed and aggregated to enable them to open and close apertures and demonstrate programmable responses to changes in environmental humidity. This study spans many fields including microbiology, materials science, design, fabrication and architectural technology, working at multiple scales from single cells to 'bench-top' prototype.Exploration of biological factors at cellular and ultracellular levels enabled optimisation of growth and sporulation conditions to biologically preprogramme optimum spore hygromorphic response and yield. Material explorations revealed physical factors influencing biomechanics, preprogramming shape and response complexity through fabrication and inert substrate interactions, to produce a palette of HBCs. Morphological aggregation was designed to harness and scale-up the HBC palette into programmable humidity responsive aperture openings. This culminated in pilot performance testing of a humidity-responsive ventilation panel fabricated with aggregatedBacillusHBCs as a bench-top prototype and suggests potential for this novel biotechnology to be further developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Birch
- Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Ben Bridgens
- Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Meng Zhang
- Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Martyn Dade-Robertson
- Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
- Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
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Zhang Y, Zhang C, Wang R, Tan W, Gu Y, Yu X, Zhu L, Liu L. Development and challenges of smart actuators based on water-responsive materials. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:5725-5741. [PMID: 35904079 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00519k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Water-responsive (WR) materials, due to their controllable mechanical response to humidity without energy actuation, have attracted lots of attention to the development of smart actuators. WR material-based smart actuators can transform natural humidity to a required mechanical motion and have been widely used in various fields, such as soft robots, micro-generators, smart building materials, and textiles. In this paper, the development of smart actuators based on different WR materials has been reviewed systematically. First, the properties of different biological WR materials and the corresponding actuators are summarized, including plant materials, animal materials, and microorganism materials. Additionally, various synthetic WR materials and their related applications in smart actuators have also been introduced in detail, including hydrophilic polymers, graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, and other synthetic materials. Finally, the challenges of the WR actuator are analyzed from the three perspectives of actuator design, control methods, and compatibility, and the potential solutions are also discussed. This paper may be useful for the development of not only soft actuators that are based on WR materials, but also smart materials applied to renewable energy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiwei Zhang
- School of Automation and Electrical Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang 110159, Liaoning, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
| | - Chuang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
| | - Ruiqian Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wenjun Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yanyu Gu
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China
| | - Xiaobin Yu
- School of Automation and Electrical Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang 110159, Liaoning, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
| | - Lizhong Zhu
- School of Automation and Electrical Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang 110159, Liaoning, China.
| | - Lianqing Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110169, China
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