Bio-inspired Coacervate Extruded Materials

ended

The threads produced by velvet worms are remarkably sticky and stiff; the beak of a jumbo squid is extremely hard; and spider silk is incredibly tough. The extraordinary material properties found in these natural systems have been of interest to researchers for a long time. However, only recently, biologists discovered that a crucial element in the processing of many of these materials are coacervates, which are concentrated macromolecular phases that form upon liquid liquid phase separation from the initial solution. An understanding is emerging that the liquid coacervate phases enable extrusion of the material and allow for conformational changes within the material before solidification. Thus, the coacervate nature is crucial for obtaining extraordinary property profiles in these natural materials. Here I propose to mimic this environmentally benign processing of coacervate extrusion for the development of completely new synthetic materials. Previous work in my group has led to the development of bio-inspired synthetic coacervates with well-controlled architecture and composition, and of various tools to study their mechanics. Here, I will take advantage of this expertise to develop unique material systems by extruding synthetic coacervates and by using the induced mechanical stress to obtain alignment and conformational changes. Analogous to the wide variety of materials found in natural systems that commence as a coacervate, this processing principle may be applicable to a wide variety of synthetic material classes. In this research program coacervate extrusion will be used to produce fibers, rods or scaffolds composed of: polyelectrolyte complexes, liquid-crystal elastomers, peptide-polymers, protein-polymers and nanocomposites. This bio-inspired processing principle of coacervate extrusion will lead to materials with unexplored property profiles and holds great promise for the development of novel high performance materials obtained by green processing.