Bio-inspired Materials and Energy

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

• Bazan - Transmembrane Electron Transfer for Energy Applications
• Begley - Development of Fragmentation Simulations for Highly Dispersive Composites Subjected to Impact Damage at High Strain Rates
• Belcher - Self-assembled Phage Conformable 3D Networks for Lightweight Power and Embedded Sensors
• Belcher - Virus Engineering to Self-assemble Hybrid Biological and Electronic Materials: Toward Ultra Lightweight Personal Power and Long Range Electric Vehicles
• Chmelka & Han - Anisotropic Nanostructured Materials for Electrochemical and Photovoltaic Energy Conversion and Storage
• Dahlquist - Tailoring Cooperative Electroactive Microbial Systems for Energy Generation
• Daraio - High-strain-rate Impact Response of Carbon Nanotube Foams
• Fredrickson & Kramer - Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Energy-Dispersive Nanostructured Polymeric Materials
• Gordon & Morse - Bio-inspired, Quasi-disordered, IR-active Coatings
• Greer - Micro- and Nano-scale Deformation Mechanisms in Bio-inspired Carbon Nanotube-based Composites for Protective Army Applications
• Hawker -Versatile Synthetic Platforms for Hybrid Nanocomposite Systems based on Hierarchical Self-assembly of Functional Copolymer
• Heeger, Bazan & Nguyen - Controlling Film Morphology of New Conjugated Polymers for Efficient Plastic Solar Cells
• Morse - Bio-Inspired Materials for Lightweight Portable Energy and other Army Applications
• Morse - Bio-inspired, Electrically Switchable, Polymer-based Shutter for IR Detectors
• Ortiz, Boyce & Oxman - Morphometric Origins of Biological and Bio-Inspired Exoskeleton Design via Mechanics of Macroscale Prototypes
• Stucky - Bio-Inspired Energy-Dispersive Materials for Personnel Protection
• Voigt - Synthetic Biology: Refactoring the Genetics of Metal Nanocluster Synthesis
• Zok - Bio-Inspired Materials and Structures for Personnel Protection

OBJECTIVES:
The ICB develops biologically-inspired fabrication techniques which create unique, multi-functional materials. These materials enable energy efficient, lightweight devices for generation and storage of energy, optoelectronics, sensing, information processing and communications. The ICB also investigates the fundamental mechanisms by which lightweight biological composites dissipate energy and resist fracture. Insight from these discoveries enables the development of high-performance, lightweight energy-dispersive materials.

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