Research Area B

Adaptivity

Living structures can respond to changing environmental conditions with nuanced and diverse reactions. This should also be true for the materials systems developed in livMatS. Beyond that, the materials systems envisioned should be capable of self-improvement and simple forms of “learning” and training. Research will focus on the three important soft material classes:
natural and synthetic polymers, DNA, and peptides or proteins.
These soft material classes have the potential to integrate diverse switching and information-processing systems that are molecularly controlled, correlated, and self-regulating.

Based on these approaches, the adaptive soft macromolecular materials systems developed in livMatS will break with present concepts of responsive materials that mostly shift passively between equilibrium states. Instead, materials systems should exhibit complex adaptation mechanisms, such as adaptation to non-trivial functional states similar to those encountered in metamaterials or shape morphing, linear and non-linear signal strength-dependent adaptation, and exposure frequency-dependent adaptation.

Coordinators Research Area B
Prof. Dr. Henning Jessen, Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp

Projects within Research Area B

• Dissipative systems engineering: Chemically fueled active molecular systems
• Logic Self-Reporting Mechano-Adaptive Metamaterials
• Autonomous light-actuated LCE actuators
• Demonstrator for soft autonomous machines ‐ soft robotic low energy gripper systems based on livMatS Materials with sensing capabilities
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B, D and Demonstrators.
• Hierarchically Programmable Materials with Propagating Stimulus Responsive Elements and Metamaterial Ultrastructuring
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B and C.
• Training Materials like Muscles
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B and C.

Compact Projects 2021 - finished

• Adaptive Peptide Libraries
  This project is a cooperation between research areas A and B. Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Charalampos Pappas
• Photoswitchable G analogues for reversible DNA modulation
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Henning Jessen
• High-resolution multimaterial 3D Printing via 2-Photon Polymerization
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
• Fluorescence-assisted screening of spider-silk protein characteristics
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski
• Magnetic actuated actuators
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
• Characterization and evaluation of 3D printing techniques for rapid prototyping of pneumatic biomimetic soft robotic gripper fingers
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
• Demonstrator for two stimuli actuoators: change in humidity and temperature triggers AVFT system as initialization for further actuation
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe

Compact Projects 2020 - finished

• Towards high-resolution polymorphic materials for information encoding and real-time volumetric assessment of material properties
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
• Interaction partners of FtsZ isoforms in Physcomitrella
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski
• Magnetically responsive Microstructures
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
• Fiber Compound Connection
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B and Demonstrators. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
• Lightweight Materials Systems
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B and Demonstrators. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
• Force dependent barriers for sacrificial bonds in mecha-noresponsive materials.
  Principal Investigator: PD Dr. Michael Walter
• Hydrogenase-Electrode-Hybrids towards enzymatic proton production for ATP Synthases
  This project is a cooperation between research areas A and B. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Anna Fischer
• Porosity- and charge storage tailoring in mesoporous nitrogen doped carbon nanospheres
  This project is a cooperation between research areas A and B. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Anna Fischer
• Tuning the physicochemical properties of porous carbon materials as electrode materials for redox-flow batteries
  This project is a cooperation between research areas A and B. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Anna Fischer

Booster Projects 2021 - finished

• Development of dynamic photocrosslinkers towards renewable thermosets
  Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Céline Calvino
• Non-equilibrium peptide chemical networks
  Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Charalampos Pappas
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hugel
• Magnetically and multiresponsive microstructures
  Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
• Autonomous Protein-Material-Machines Utilizing Electrical Energy to Adopt Non-Equilibrium States Exerting Controlled Movements
  Responsible Investigator: Dr. Stefan Schiller
• (Self-)adaptive energy-autonomous materials systems for building hulls inspired by hygroscopically actuated plant structures
  This project is a cooperation between research areas B and C. Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
• Novel Materials Systems for Applications in Biomimetic Architecture and Building Construction
  This project is a cooperation among research areas B and C and Demonstrators. Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe