Daniele Martella is researcher of University of Florence and affiliated with the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS). He received his PhD in Chemical Science at the University of Florence in 2015 working on liquid crystal synthesis. His research interests lie in the preparation of liquid crystalline networks and other smart materials and their application for soft robotics, photonics and biological applications. He received the Primo Levi Prize form the Italian Society of Chemistry (SCI, young section) for his work on intelligent robots based on photoresponsive materials.Title: Photoresponsive Liquid Crystalline Networks as artificial muscles and actuators
Abstract: Liquid Crystalline Networks (LCNs) are smart materials with an anisotropic molecular structure and shape-changing capabilities. Exploiting the combination of their response to optical stimuli with 3D structuration at the microscale, we demonstrated different synthetic microrobots entirely powered by light and able to reproduce diverse animal behaviour. Developed microrobots are able to perform humanoid tasks, as walking and swimming, but also to grab and manipulate objects. The same materials have been optimized to show contraction parameters comparable to those of native striated muscles thus opening to application in tissue engineering.