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The research on mechanics of active gels has been carried on under the support of the research project Microencapsulation based on intelligent actively-remodeling bio polymer gels for controlled drug release (PAMM) funded by MAECI through the IX Call for Proposal on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (Scientific Track 2020) within the agreement between Italty and Israel. It's a joint project with the Department of structural and geotechnical engineering @ Sapienza Università di Roma and the Department of chemical engineering@ Ben Gurion University at Negev (PI: Paola Nardinocchi and Anne Bernheim). Within the Eleventh Call for Proposals on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (Scientific Track 2022) the project Active biopolymer gels for soft robotics design (Bio-SoRo) presented jointly with the Israelian partner Anne Bernheim (Ben Gurion University at the Negev) has been funded for the 2022-2024 period.
The key idea: three characteristic states of an active gel are identified. (a) the dry-reference meshwork (red) with crosslinks (blue dots) (panel a); (b) the contracted reference meshwork, whereas mean free-length of the mesh is reduced, crosslink density is changed and the polymer chains are considered unstretched; (c) the swollen meshwork, where liquid molecules (light blue dots) swell the contracted reference meshwork.
The key idea: three characteristic states of an active gel are identified. (a) the dry-reference meshwork (red) with crosslinks (blue dots) (panel a); (b) the contracted reference meshwork, whereas mean free-length of the mesh is reduced, crosslink density is changed and the polymer chains are considered unstretched; (c) the swollen meshwork, where liquid molecules (light blue dots) swell the contracted reference meshwork.
Talks
Mechanics of gels: swelling, drying and other stories. Dialogues on Continuum Mechanics, Udine, ITALY, December 2023 (speaker: P. Nardinocchi)
Self-contractile biopolymer gels: a continuum mechanics perspective. Euromech Colloqium 638: Cellular mechanobiology and morphogenesis, Sirmione del Garda, ITALY, August 2023 (speaker: P. Nardinocchi)
Self-contractile biopolymer gels: a continuum mechanics perspective. GIMC-GMA-GMBA 2023, Reggio Calabria, IIALY, July 2023 (speaker: P. Nardinocchi)
Active dynamics of self-contracting polymer gels subject to different chemo-mechanical environments. GIMC-GMA-GMBA 2023, Reggio Calabria, IIALY, July 2023 (speaker: F. Recrosi)
Self Contracting Gel. Mechanics and thermodynamics of living systems (Mech-Life-2022), Universitè Paris-Est Crèteil UPEC, November 2022, Paris, FRANCE (speaker: L. Teresi)
On the interplay between activity, elasticity and diffusion in self-contractile biopolymer gels. GIMC SIMAI Young 2022, September 2022, Pavia, ITALY(speaker: F. Recrosi)
Active-elastic instabilities in thin elastic structures. Aimeta 2022, eptember 2022, Palermo, ITALY (speaker: PN)
Stress-free morphing by means of 3D target metric. BioToMath Conference - Mathematics Challenges in Biology and Medicine, September 2022, Torino, ITALY (speaker: L. Teresi)
Diffusion-induced instabilities in soft solid sheets. Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics@University of California - Santa Barbara, June 2021, US (speaker: PN)
A study of microencapsulation based on actively remodeling bio-polymer gels: work done and open issues. INdAM Meeting ''Active materials: from mechanobiology to smart device'', September 2021, Cortona, ITALY (speaker: PN)
Pubblications
A. Bernheim, I. Cervantes, G. Livne, P. Nardinocchi, F. Recrosi, L. Teresi. On the interplay between activity, elasticity and liquid transport in self-contractile biopolymer gels. Physical Review E 109, 014601, 2024.
M. Curatolo, P. Nardinocchi, L. Teresi. Active Gel: a Continuum Physics Perspective. In: "Modelling of Mass Transport Processes in Biological Media", Elsevier, 2022.
M.Curatolo, P. Nardinocchi, L. Teresi. Morphing of soft structures driven by active swelling: a numerical study. International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 141, 103951, 2022.
M. Curatolo, P. Nardinocchi, L. Teresi. Mechanics of active gel spheres under bulk contraction. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 193, 106147, 2021.
M. Curatolo, G. Napoli, P. Nardinocchi, S. Turzi. Dehydration-induced mechanical instabilities in active elastic spherical shells. Proc. R. Soc. A, 477,2254, 2021.
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