Magnetic actuation and transition shapes of a bistable spherical cap

Multistable shells have been proposed for a variety of applications; however, their actuation is almost exclusively addressed through embedded piezoelectric patches. Additional actuation techniques are needed for applications requiring high strains or where remote actuation is desirable. Part of the reason for the lack of research in this area is the absence of appropriate models describing the detailed deformation and energetics of such shells. This work presents a bistable spherical cap made of iron carbonyl-infused polydimethylsiloxane. The magnetizable structure can be actuated remotely through permanent magnets while the transition is recorded with a high-speed camera. Moreover, the experiment is reproduced in a finite element (FE) dynamic model for comparison with the physical observations. High-speed footage of the physical cap inversion together with the FE modeling gives valuable insight on preferable intermediate geometries. Both methods return similar values for the magnetic field strength required for the snap-through. High-strain multistable spherical cap transformation is demonstrated, based on informed material selection. We discover that non-axisymmetric transition shapes are preferred in intermediate geometries by bistable spherical caps. We develop the methods for design and analysis of such actuators, including the feasibility of remote actuation methods for multistable shells.EGL acknowledges financial support by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation. SKS acknowledges funding by the European Research Council (ERC) grant EMATTER [#280078].This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCopyRight?doi=10.1080%2F19475411.2014.997322#tabModule

Multidimensional performance optimization of conducting polymer-based supercapacitor electrodes

Supercapacitors based on conducting polymers promise to bridge the gap between the high power densities of carbon-based double-layer capacitors and the high energy densities of batteries. While much work has focused on improving the specific capacitance of these materials, emerging applications also demand competitive performance with regards to a variety of other criteria, including long-term cycling stability, mechanical robustness, and scalability of fabrication. There is no consolidated summary in the literature, however, of the specific strategies used to target these individual metrics as well as the tradeoffs that exist between them. Herein, we review the most recent progress in engineering high performance conducting polymer-based supercapacitor electrodes, emphasizing the successful techniques for polymer synthesis, nanostructuring, and compositing with carbon or metal oxides which have been used to optimize each of the most important supercapacitor performance metrics.This work was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) grant to S.K.S., EMATTER (# 280078). K.D.F. acknowledges support from the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. T.W. thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for funding and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Sensor Technologies and Applications (grant number: EP/L015889/1) for support

Stamping colloidal photonic crystals: a facile way towards complex pixel colour patterns for sensing and displays.

Patterning of colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs) has been strongly investigated in recent years for sensing and image displays. Rather than using traditional template-directed approaches, here microimprint lithography along with convective self-assembly is applied to generate complex CPC patterns that can be adjusted to show single- or dual-colour patterns or composite CPC patterns possessing two different colours. These composite CPC patterns show different wettability with water because of the surface chemistry of the polymers and silica used. This dramatically transforms the structural colours upon liquid infiltration. By mixing different ethanol concentrations with water, the infiltration efficiency can be further improved and easily read out from changes in reflection intensity and spectral peak shifts. Integrating these nano-architectures into devices can thus yield function as image displays and as sensors for solvents.We acknowledge financial support from EPSRC grant EP/ G060649/1, EP/I012060/1, EP/J007552/1, EP/L027151/1, ERC grant LINASS 320503, EMATTER 280078.This is the final published version. The article first appeared at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/NR/C4NR05934D#!divAbstract

A novel phenomenological model for dynamic behavior of magnetorheological elastomers in tension-compression mode

Tension-compression operation in MR elastomers (MREs) offers both the most compact design and superior stiffness in many vertical load-bearing applications, such as MRE bearing isolators in bridges and buildings, suspension systems and engine mounts in cars, and vibration control equipment. It suffers, however, from lack of good computational models to predict device performance, and as a result shear-mode MREs are widely used in the industry, despite their low stiffness and load-bearing capacity. We start with a comprehensive review of modeling of MREs and their dynamic characteristics, showing previous studies have mostly focused on dynamic behavior of MREs in shear mode, though the MRE strength and MR effect are greatly decreased at high strain amplitudes, due to increasing distance between the magnetic particles. Moreover, the characteristic parameters of the current models assume either frequency, or strain, or magnetic field are constant; hence, new model parameters must be recalculated for new loading conditions. This is an experimentally time consuming and computationally expensive task, and no models capture the full dynamic behavior of the MREs at all loading conditions. In this study, we present an experimental setup to test MREs in a coupled tension-compression mode, as well as a novel phenomenological model which fully predicts the stress-strain material behavior as a function of magnetic flux density, loading frequency and strain. We use a training set of experiments to find the experimentally derived model parameters, from which can predict by interpolation the MRE behavior in a relatively large continuous range of frequency, strain and magnetic field. We also challenge the model to make extrapolating predictions and compare to additional experiments outside the training experimental data set with good agreement. Further development of this model would allow design and control of engineering structures equipped with tension-compression MREs and all the advantages they offer.We acknowledge funding from the European Research Council grant EMATTER 280078

Selectively Patterning Polymer Opal Films via Microimprint Lithography.

Large-scale structural color flexible coatings have been hard to create, and patterning color on them is key to many applications, including large-area strain sensors, wall-size displays, security devices, and smart fabrics. To achieve controlled tuning, a micro-imprinting technique is applied here to pattern both the surface morphology and the structural color of the polymer opal films (POFs). These POFs are made of 3D ordered arrays of hard spherical particles embedded inside soft shells. The soft outer shells cause the POFs to deform upon imprinting with a pre-patterned stamp, driving a flow of the soft polymer and a rearrangement of the hard spheres within the films. As a result, a patterned surface morphology is generated within the POFs and the structural colors are selectively modified within different regions. These changes are dependent on the pressure, temperature, and duration of imprinting, as well as the feature sizes in the stamps. Moreover, the pattern geometry and structural colors can then be further tuned by stretching. Micropattern color generation upon imprinting depends on control of colloidal transport in a polymer matrix under shear flow and brings many potential properties including stretchability and tunability, as well as being of fundamental interest.This is the final version. It was first published in Advanced Optical Materials by Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.201400327/abstract

A 3-dimensional fibre scaffold as an investigative tool for studying the morphogenesis of isolated plant pells.

BACKGROUND: Cell culture methods allow the detailed observations of individual plant cells and their internal processes. Whereas cultured cells are more amenable to microscopy, they have had limited use when studying the complex interactions between cell populations and responses to external signals associated with tissue and whole plant development. Such interactions result in the diverse range of cell shapes observed in planta compared to the simple polygonal or ovoid shapes in vitro. Microfluidic devices can isolate the dynamics of single plant cells but have restricted use for providing a tissue-like and fibrous extracellular environment for cells to interact. A gap exists, therefore, in the understanding of spatiotemporal interactions of single plant cells interacting with their three-dimensional (3D) environment. A model system is needed to bridge this gap. For this purpose we have borrowed a tool, a 3D nano- and microfibre tissue scaffold, recently used in biomedical engineering of animal and human tissue physiology and pathophysiology in vitro. RESULTS: We have developed a method of 3D cell culture for plants, which mimics the plant tissue environment, using biocompatible scaffolds similar to those used in mammalian tissue engineering. The scaffolds provide both developmental cues and structural stability to isolated callus-derived cells grown in liquid culture. The protocol is rapid, compared to the growth and preparation of whole plants for microscopy, and provides detailed subcellular information on cells interacting with their local environment. We observe cell shapes never observed for individual cultured cells. Rather than exhibiting only spheroid or ellipsoidal shapes, the cells adapt their shape to fit the local space and are capable of growing past each other, taking on growth and morphological characteristics with greater complexity than observed even in whole plants. Confocal imaging of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lines containing fluorescent microtubule and actin reporters enables further study of the effects of interactions and complex morphologies upon cytoskeletal organisation both in 3D and in time (4D). CONCLUSIONS: The 3D culture within the fibre scaffolds permits cells to grow freely within a matrix containing both large and small spaces, a technique that is expected to add to current lithographic technologies, where growth is carefully controlled and constricted. The cells, once seeded in the scaffolds, can adopt a variety of morphologies, demonstrating that they do not need to be part of a tightly packed tissue to form complex shapes. This points to a role of the immediate nano- and micro-topography in plant cell morphogenesis. This work defines a new suite of techniques for exploring cell-environment interactions

Symmetry breaking polymerization: one-pot synthesis of plasmonic hybrid Janus nanoparticles.

Asymmetric hybrid nanoparticles have many important applications in catalysis, nanomotion, sensing, and diagnosis, however ways to generate the asymmetric hybrid nanoparticles are quite limited and inefficient. Most current methods rely on interfacial adhesion and modification of already formed particles. In this article we report a one-pot, facile and scalable synthesis of anisotropic Au-polymer hybrid nanoparticles via interfacial oxidative dispersion polymerization. The interfacial nucleation and polymerization lead to spontaneous symmetry breaking and formation of the Janus particles. The reaction is initiated by monomer radicals generated by the strong oxidant HAuCl4, which is itself later reduced by the electron-rich monomers to self-nucleate and form Au nanoparticles (NPs). The competition between divinylbenzene adsorption and the PVP capping agent results in effective partial surface wetting, forming asymmetric Au-PDVB hybrid nanoparticles, by confining growth of each material to its own phase. Such spontaneous symmetry breaking, important in morphogenesis, with control over the subsequent growth processes should lead to significant advances in the synthesis of asymmetric nanostructures.The research was funded by ERC grants EMATTER 280078 and LINASS 320503, and EPSRC grants EP/G060649/1, and EP/ L027151/1.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/NR/c5nr01999k#!divAbstract

Benchmarking of Molecular Dynamics Force Fields for Solid-Liquid and Solid-Solid Phase Transitions in Alkanes

Accurate prediction of alkane phase transitions involving solids is needed to prevent catastrophic pipeline blockages, improve lubrication formulations, smart insulation, and energy storage, as well as bring fundamental understanding to processes such as artificial morphogenesis. However, simulation of these transitions is challenging and therefore often omitted in force field development. Here, we perform a series of benchmarks on seven representative molecular dynamics models (TraPPE, PYS, CHARMM36, L-OPLS, COMPASS, Williams, and the newly optimized Williams 7B), comparing with experimental data for liquid properties, liquid-solid, and solid-solid phase transitions of two prototypical alkanes, n-pentadecane (C15) and n-hexadecane (C16). We find that existing models overestimate the melting points by up to 34 K, with PYS and Williams 7B yielding the most accurate results deviating only 2 and 3 K from the experiment. We specially design order parameters to identify crystal-rotator phase transitions in alkanes. United-atom models could only produce a rotator phase with complete rotational disorder, whereas all-atom models using a 12-6 Lennard-Jones potential show no rotator phase even when superheated above the melting point. In contrast, Williams (Buckingham potential) and COMPASS (9-6 Lennard-Jones) reproduce the crystal-to-rotator phase transition, with the optimized Williams 7B model having the most accurate crystal-rotator transition temperature of C15.</p

Experimental investigation of anomalous molecular probe diffusion in entangled polymer melts

Investigations on the diffusion of small molecules or particles in polymeric materials are important to numerous technologies and can also be used to gain insight on polymer chain dynamics. Systems where the probe size is comparable to (or smaller than) a characteristic length of the polymer chain, the tube diameter for example, are of particular interest because the diffusion coefficient of the probe can be orders of magnitude larger than the value predicted by the Stokes-Einstein relation. In the present study, we employ the optical technique known as forced Rayleigh scattering to study the diffusion of a molecular probe (dye) in several entangled polymer melts over a wide range of length and time scales. The probe size is much smaller than the tube diameter for the systems studied. We find the diffusion coefficient is larger by four to five orders of magnitude than the Stokes-Einstein prediction. More interestingly, we observe anomalous, non-Fickian, diffusion where the value of the measured diffusion coefficient can abruptly change by as much as 50%. We suggest that this unexpected behavior occurs when the time scale for diffusion is larger than the relaxation time associated with the constraint release mechanism for polymer chain dynamics