Project leader: A.R. Studart

Team: N. Bruns, C. Weder, H.-A. Klok, E. Amstad, A. Fink, K. Fromm

The synthesis of functional materials in Nature relies on extremely sophisticated mechanisms among which controlled multimaterial growth and microcompartmentalization are key processes. This project seeks to implement these two particular design concepts in the development of bio-inspired synthetic materials. To this end, multimaterial 3D printing will be used to mimic the controlled multimaterial growth observed in the unique microstructure of e.g. mollusk shells, human teeth and self-shaping plant seedpods, and high-throughput microfluidics will be employed to access microcompartmentalization. The combination of these advanced processing tools is expected to yield synthetic heterogeneous materials with unprecedented functionalities and mechanoresponsiveness.