BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:icalendar-ruby
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
X-WR-CALNAME:IMSE Seminar: "Soft Networks of Microgels for Microactuation a
 nd Color and Pattern Morphing Skins"  
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Central Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20261005T185918Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_48277433874396
DTSTART:20250303T190000Z
DTEND:20250303T195000Z
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Stephen Morin\, Associate Professor Materials Chemistry\, U
 niversity of Nebraska-Lincoln\n\nWe are investigating new strategies for t
 he design\, fabrication\, and operation of autonomous (i.e.\, adaptive and
  stimuli-responsive) materials systems comprised of soft polymers with fun
 ctional (chemical\, optical\, mechanical\, etc.) properties.  These strate
 gies emphasize hierarchical materials integration which can overcome opera
 tional constraints by balancing the size\, geometry\, and connectivity of 
 individual active elements across multiple length scales. This talk will f
 ocus on our recent work in the fabrication of microstructured hydrogel arr
 ays for applications in microactuation\, optofluidics\, and dynamic colora
 tion.\n\nHydrogels are functional polymeric materials with stimuli-respons
 ive properties applicable to a wide range of applications including soft e
 lectronics and robotics\, three-dimensional cell culture\, tissue engineer
 ing\, and optofluidics. Accordingly\, the diversity and reported use cases
  of these materials has grown tremendously over the past decades\, however
 \, the fabrication and device integration of multi-material\, hydrogel mic
 rostructures remain a challenge. I will describe a simple microfabrication
  strategy that enables the facile production of fixed arrays of stimuli-re
 sponsive hydrogel microstructures with dynamic microactation functionality
 . Our approach uses rationally designed soft\, stretchable chemical templa
 tes and stamps to (i) form prepolymer droplets into ordered arrays of micr
 oshapes and (ii) provide surface chemical moieties to photograft the hydro
 gels directly to the support during crosslinking. By executing this proced
 ure\, we realized a seamless fabrication scheme applicable to the producti
 on of a diversity (in terms of materials and geometries) of functional mic
 rogel-based structures. To demonstrate the utility of our approach and the
  stability of the fixed microgel arrays in liquid phase applications\, I w
 ill present prototypical microgel-based devices with stimuli-responsive (e
 .g.\, solvothermal and chemical) optofluidic and microactuation functional
 ity. \n\nFurther\, I will demonstrate how microactuation can be applied to
  color and pattern morphing materials. We envision many technologies\, for
  example\, liquid phase soft microactuators\, stimuli-responsive 3D cell c
 ulture platforms\, micro/optofluidic chips\, stretchable displays\, and dy
 namic print media\, that will directly benefit from the described fabricat
 ion strategies and the demonstrated microgel networks.\n\nHost: Dr. Alexan
 dra Rutz
GEO:38.648882;-90.302207
LOCATION:Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Hall\, 12
SUMMARY:IMSE Seminar: "Soft Networks of Microgels for Microactuation and Co
 lor and Pattern Morphing Skins"  
URL;VALUE=URI:https://happenings.washu.edu/event/imse-seminar-dr-stephen-mo
 rin-university-of-nebraska-lincoln
CATEGORIES:Seminar/Colloquia
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR