Esther Amstad

Abstract:

Nature produces materials possessing exceptional mechanical properties. These properties are to a large extent related to the well-defined structure and locally varying composition of natural materials. Key to the excellent control nature possesses over the structure and local composition of its materials is their fabrication: Many of these materials are formed from compartmentalized reagents that are transported to the desired locations where they are locally released. Inspired by nature, we use emulsion drops as compartments to build macroscopic granular load-bearing soft materials. In this talk, I will demonstrate how we use emulsion drops to produce self-healing capsules that controllably release reagents on demand and how we convert these capsules and microparticles into strong, yet recyclable macroscopic hydrogels. The resulting granular double network hydrogels can bear significant loads, a feature that is frequently seen in natural hydrogels, but very rarely obtained in synthetic counterparts.