IRG-II Highlight
Mechanomutable Polymer Tube Forests
Higher-magnification plan-view CLSM images of (PAH7.5/PAA3.5)20 nanotube arrays immersed in water at pH 5.5 and 1.8, respectively. Both images were scanned at half tube length (not compiled from multiple scans at different heights). |
Authors: M. Boyce, M. Buehler, R. Cohen, C. Ortiz, M. Rubner and K. Van Vliet (MIT)
An interdisciplinary, inter-IRG team of researchers have developed arrays of surface-attached nanostructured polymer tubes. These polymer tube forests are “mechanomutable”– that is, they change their mechanical behavior reversibly in response to an external stimulus. By decreasing the pH, these polymer tubes exhibit dramatic changes in structure, geometry, and properties from a condensed to a swollen, nanoporous state, resulting in orders of magnitude changes in mechanical properties, such as stiffness. The team of researchers is exploring the use of mechanomutable materials for 2D dynamic substrates for cell biology studies, 3D locally tunable tissue engineered scaffolds, control of colloid transport in microfluidic devices and on 2D substrates, control of membrane morphology and wrinkling, and for tunable adhesives, lubricants, and penetration-resistant coatings.
K.-K. Chia, M.F. Rubner, R.E. Cohen. pH-Responsive reversibly swellable nanotube arrays. Langmuir 25, 14044 (2009).
