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Interlinking spatial dimensions and kinetic processes in dissipative materials to create synthetic systems with lifelike functionality

Nature Nanotechnology volume 19, pages 146–159 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Biological systems spontaneously convert energy input into the actions necessary to survive. Motivated by the efficacy of these processes, researchers aim to forge materials systems that exhibit the self-sustained and autonomous functionality found in nature. Success in this effort will require synthetic analogues of the following: a metabolism to generate energy, a vasculature to transport energy and materials, a nervous system to transmit ‘commands’, a musculoskeletal system to translate commands into physical action, regulatory networks to monitor the entire enterprise, and a mechanism to convert ‘nutrients’ into growing materials. Design rules must interconnect the material’s structural and kinetic properties over ranges of length (that can vary from the nano- to mesoscale) and timescales to enable local energy dissipations to power global functionality. Moreover, by harnessing dynamic interactions intrinsic to the material, the system itself can perform the work needed for its own functionality. Here, we assess the advances and challenges in dissipative materials design and at the same time aim to spur developments in next-generation functional, ‘living’ materials.

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Fig. 1: Synthetic metabolisms that harness chemical energy to produce mechanical actions.
Fig. 2: Synthetic vasculatures.
Fig. 3: Transmission of impulses within biomimetic nervous systems.
Fig. 4: Materials systems controlled by the feedback loops.
Fig. 5: Growing polymeric materials.
Fig. 6: Materials as machines.

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Acknowledgements

A.C.B. thanks the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences for DOE grant number DE-SC0012348.

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    Oleg E. Shklyaev & Anna C. Balazs

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Shklyaev, O.E., Balazs, A.C. Interlinking spatial dimensions and kinetic processes in dissipative materials to create synthetic systems with lifelike functionality. Nat. Nanotechnol. 19, 146–159 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01530-z

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