This series of
images shows the transformation of a 4D-printed hydrogel composite
structure after
its submersion in water. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
(January 25, 2016) Materials
science and mathematics combine to enable the printing of shapeshifting
architectures that mimic the natural movements of plants
A team of scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically
Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard John A. Paulson
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has evolved their microscale 3D
printing technology to the fourth dimension, time. Inspired by natural
structures like plants, which respond and change their form over time according
to environmental stimuli, the team has unveiled 4D-printed hydrogel composite
structures that change shape upon immersion in water.
"This work represents an elegant advance in
programmable materials assembly, made possible by a multidisciplinary
approach," said Jennifer Lewis, Sc.D., senior author on the new study.
"We have now gone beyond integrating form and function to create transformable
architectures."
Lewis is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute for
Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Hansjörg Wyss
Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson
School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). L. Mahadevan, Ph.D., a Wyss
Core Faculty member as well as the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied
Mathematics, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Professor of
Physics at Harvard University and Harvard SEAS, is a co-author on the study.
Their team also includes co-author, Ralph Nuzzo, Ph.D., the G.L. Clark Professor
of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.