Collaborative Research: Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Synthetic Micro/Nano-Swimmers in Shear-thinning Fluids

合作研究：剪切稀化流体中合成微/纳米游泳者的理论与实验研究

基本信息

批准号：
1931292
负责人：
On Shun Pak
金额：
$ 25.17万
依托单位：
Santa Clara University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-10-01 至 2024-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1931292&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Theoretical Experimental Investigation

项目摘要

Synthetic swimmers are engineered microscopic or nanoscopic objects that mimic how natural microorganisms swim through their environment. Synthetic swimmers that can move through biological fluids show great promise in biomedical applications such as drug delivery and microsurgery. Successful applications of these swimmers to biomedical tasks rely on their ability to move through biological fluids, such as blood, with complex and varying properties that respond to their surroundings. While there have been recent studies on the subject of locomotion in these fluids, much remains to be learned about the influence of directional applied forces or other motions such shaking and agitation, on swimming. This research project aims to quantify and elucidate the impacts of complex (non-Newtonian) fluid properties on the locomotion of synthetic micro-swimmers. The outcomes will enable the development of micro-robots with robust swimming capabilities for next generation healthcare applications. The project will integrate research and education through senior design projects and undergraduate research participation. By leveraging existing university programs with new activities derived from the research project, the researchers will provide outreach to approximately 120 high-school students annually. The project will also support an exhibition entitled "Swallowing a Surgeon" at the California Science Center (Los Angeles, CA) in order to expose the general public to the challenges and progress made towards designing biomedical micro-robots.In this collaborative research project between Santa Clara University and the California Institute of Technology, computations and experiments will be used to understand locomotion in shear-thinning fluids and to identify effective strategies to account for this non-Newtonian fluid behavior in the design of synthetic swimmers. Existing propulsion mechanisms can be broadly categorized into chemically-powered swimmers that harvest energy from local chemical reactions, and swimmers that require external fields for actuation. In this research project, representative model systems from each category will be studied to evaluate the impacts of shear-thinning rheology on major types of synthetic swimmers at small scales. Theory and experiments will use catalytic motors and flexible magnetic nanowire propellers to provide a comprehensive understanding of how distinct types of non-Newtonian fluid behaviors and their interactions affect locomotion at small scales. The completion of this project will lead to new fundamental knowledge on fluid-structure interactions and phoretic motion in complex fluids. This improved understanding will in turn guide the design of next-generation synthetic swimmers that can move through biological fluids effectively.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

人造游泳器是经过工程设计的微观或纳米物体，模仿自然微生物在其环境中游泳的方式。可以在生物体液中移动的人造游泳器在药物输送和显微外科等生物医学应用中显示出巨大的前景。这些游泳者在生物医学任务中的成功应用依赖于它们在生物液体（例如血液）中移动的能力，这些液体具有复杂且变化的特性，可以对周围环境做出反应。虽然最近对这些液体中的运动问题进行了研究，但关于定向作用力或其他运动（例如摇动和搅动）对游泳的影响仍有待了解。该研究项目旨在量化和阐明复杂（非牛顿）流体特性对合成微型游泳者运动的影响。研究结果将为下一代医疗保健应用开发具有强大游泳能力的微型机器人。该项目将通过高级设计项目和本科生研究参与将研究和教育结合起来。通过利用现有的大学项目和研究项目衍生的新活动，研究人员每年将向大约 120 名高中生提供服务。该项目还将支持在加州科学中心（加利福尼亚州洛杉矶）举办的题为“吞咽外科医生”的展览，以使公众了解设计生物医学微型机器人所面临的挑战和取得的进展。圣克拉拉大学和加州理工学院将利用计算和实验来了解剪切稀化流体中的运动，并确定有效的策略来解释合成游泳器设计中的这种非牛顿流体行为。现有的推进机制可大致分为从局部化学反应中获取能量的化学动力游泳器和需要外部场驱动的游泳器。在该研究项目中，将研究每个类别的代表性模型系统，以评估剪切稀化流变学对小尺度主要类型合成游泳运动员的影响。理论和实验将使用催化电机和柔性磁性纳米线螺旋桨来全面了解不同类型的非牛顿流体行为及其相互作用如何影响小尺度的运动。该项目的完成将带来关于复杂流体中的流体-结构相互作用和泳动运动的新的基础知识。这种加深的理解反过来将指导下一代合成游泳器的设计，这些游泳器可以有效地穿过生物体液。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。