Soft Active Materials Laboratory (SAMs)

The long-term research mission of the Soft Active Materials Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering is to understand the fundamental mechanics and physics of materials and phenomena emerging on the interface between engineering and biological systems and to design new materials and structures capable of extraordinary applications in diverse technologies.

The current research goal is to understand and design soft materials with unprecedented properties such as extremely tough and strong, ultrasensitive to stimuli, mutable and programmable, biocompatible and bioabsorbable; and to explore their extraordinary functions in technologies such as wearable and biointegrated electronics, drug delivery and tissue engineering, antifouling, energy harvesting and storage, soft robotics and machines, water treatment. In order to achieve this goal, we are advancing fundamental knowledge on interfaces between solid mechanics, soft materials, and bioinspired and genetic design.

Current research projects are centered on three bioinspired themes:

(1) Artificial muscle (Electro-magneto-active polymers & Electro-magneto-mechanics;

(2) Transformative skin (Functional surface instability and patterning & Thin film mechanics; and

(3) Tough cartilage (Biomaterials with extraordinary mechanical properties and Biomechanics

While the greatest engineering achievements in the 20th century were made largely based on hard and passive materials with metals, ceramics, glass, concretes and silicon as typical examples; life and biology are mostly based on soft and active materials such as DNAs, RNAs, proteins, cells, tissues, organs and human bodies. On the interface between engineering and biological systems appear to emerge the solutions to multiple grand challenges faced by human beings in the 21st century; for instance, the challenges in energy, water, food, medicine, security and joy of living et al. Conquering these challenges usually requires new materials that can provide unprecedented properties and functions, capable of seamlessly interfacing between engineering and biological systems. In view of the grant challenges and great opportunities, the long-term research mission of Soft Active Materials Laboratory is set to be:

(*) to understand the fundamental mechanics and physics of materials and phenomena emerging on the interface between engineering and biological systems;

(*) to design new materials and structures capable of extraordinary applications on the interface between engineering and biological systems.

The interdisciplinary nature of the research mission motivates us to adopt two reciprocal research approaches:
(1) to integrate experimental, theoretical and computational tools developed in engineering system to understand the fundamental mechanics and physics of novel biological-related materials and phenomena; and (2) to seek inspirations from biological system to design new materials and structures for impactful engineering applications.