OVERVIEW
The Soft Materials and Structures Lab is focused on studying and developing soft materials with extraordinary combinations of mechanical and functional properties. This includes electronics and machines that can be stretched, bent, and even cut while remaining completely functional, smart adhesives that release on demand, and materials that sense and adapt their properties and structure to optimize performance. We achieve this through multifunctional materials, combining advanced functional properties with reconfigurable, programmable, and self-healing soft material response.
MULTIFUNCTIONAL SOFT MATTER MATERIALS
We integrate elastomers and gels with functional components from fluids to fibers and films to create programmamble and reconfigurable materials. Liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn)) droplets dispersed in elastomers enable exceptional combinations of soft elasticity and electrical and thermal properties and extreme toughness, autonomously self-healing electrical circuits, and mechanically triggered stiffness tuning in soft materials.
MATERIALS BY DESIGN
We design material meso-structure to generate macroscopic responses that are not ordinarily obtained in bulk materials. This includes kirigami-inspired materials with designed cut architectures to create highly tunable mechanical stiffness and extensibility and controllable and anisotropic adhesive response.
ADAPTIVE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
We merge principles in stretchable electronics, active materials, and soft robotics to design, fabricate, and evaluate intelligent adaptive materials. This includes soft materials that detect damage and can transform from a soft to rigid material through solidification of undercooled particles upon being stressed.
Videos
High thermal conductivity in soft composites
Self-healing electronics
WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR SUPPORT FROM THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:
