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


Longterm Projects 2022 and 2023

Longterm Projects 2019 and 2020

Booster Projects 2023 - finished

  • Controlled oxygen release through force
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigators: PD Dr. Michael Walter and Prof. Dr. Henning Jessen
  • Plant-inspired humidity-driven bending actuator
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Claas Müller
    Principal Investigators: Dr. Olga Speck and Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
  • Biomechanics of liana tendrils and searcher twigs as models for novel plant-inspired soft root arms
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
  • 3D Printing of shape-morphing surfaces for mechanical metamaterial surfaces
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Viacheslav Slesarenko
  • Maskless microstructuring of livMatS surfaces
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe and Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
  • Intra- and extracellular self-assembly of filamentous protein polymers
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski
  • Programmable Hydrogel Hopper: Mechanical Confinement Harnessing Slow Deformation
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B and C.
    Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl and Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
  • A sustainable approach towards peptide synthesis in water
    This project is a cooperation between research areas A, B, D and Demonstrators.
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Charalampos Pappas
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
  • Thin-walled structures for soft machines via a new soap-bubbleinspired manufacturing technique
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl
  • Emergent self-organization in macroscopic systems with stimuli-responsive elements
    This project is a cooperation between research areas A, B and Demonstrators.
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Viacheslav Slesarenko
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Lars Pastewka
  • ECPhotoACT - First steps towards photoelectrochemical actuators
    This project is a cooperation between research areas A, B and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Anna Fischer
  • Carbohydrates as predetermined enzymatic breaking points in surface-bound cross-linked polymers
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Daniel B. Werz

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

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