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Symposia

from the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr. Wereley is Editor of the Journal of describe our efforts to apply these structures for developing hair-cell
Intelligent Material Systems and Structures and associate editor of AIAA inspired sensors and synapse-inspired neuromorphic
Journal, and Journal of the American Helicopter Society. He recently computing elements.
served as Chair (2012-2013) of the SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures/
NDE. Dr. Wereley is the recipient of several awards including AIAA Biography
National Capital Section Engineer of the Year (2009), AIAA Sustained
Service Award (2011), the AHS Harry T. Jensen Award (2011), and the ASME Andy Sarles is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee,
Adaptive Structures and Materials Systems Best Paper Award in Structural Knoxville. Sarles’ research group works to develop new types of bio-
Dynamics and Control (2004, 2012). Dr. Wereley is the recipient of the inspired multifunctional materials from soft, reconfigurable materials,
ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Prize (2012), the SPIE including stimuli-responsive biological molecules and polymers. Key
Smart Structures and Materials Lifetime Achievement Award (2013), and contributions include methods to rapidly assemble, stabilize for portability
the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Product Implementation Award and durability, and characterize nanoscale biomolecular assemblies for
(2013). Dr. Wereley is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and use as sensors, energy conversion devices, and neuromorphic computing
Astronautics (AIAA), the American Helicopter Society, the American elements. Sarles is the recipient of a 2018 NSF CAREER Award, the 2017
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Institute of Physics (IOP), and Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award from the Adaptive Structures
SPIE - The International Society for Optics and Photonics. He is also a and Material Systems Branch at ASME, and a 2015 3M Non-Tenured
Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Faculty Grant. He is a member of ASME, MRS, and ASEE
(IEEE). He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University and
SYMPOSIUM 7
M.S. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

SMART MATERIALS BASED ON STIMULI-RESPONSIVE VIBRATIONAL ENERGY HARVESTERS FOR
BIOMOLECULES AND SELECTIVE TRANSPORT UNPREDICTABLE ENVIRONMENTS

Andy Sarles Carol Livermore
Assistant Professor Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Engineering Northeastern University
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive biomolecules and selective transport at the nanometer

length-scale form the basis of nearly all autonomous functions in living Abstract
creatures. For example, these features enable the development and

propagation of action potentials in nerve cells that record and transmit Many challenges remain in the conversion of ambient motions into useful

external perturbations, trigger information processing and memory levels of electrical output power via compact vibrational energy harvesting

storage in the brain, and coordinate muscular responses and locomotion. systems. Part of the challenge lies in the dynamics of resonant systems;

Engineering synthetic materials to achieve and collocate these same although resonant amplification can greatly increase power output, it also

capabilities of sensing, energy-conversion, computing, and actuation thus narrows the range of driving frequencies over which that power can be

represents an important research challenge that will result in a new obtained. In addition, vibrational harvesting is typically most effective at

generation of smart systems, including autonomous vehicles and robots, higher frequencies, making the capture of energy from low frequency

medical devices, and multifunctional, adaptive structures. However, while sources such as human motions more difficult, particularly when the

one can argue that nearly all smart materials and structures derive some harvester needs to be small. Tuning the dynamics of a resonant

inspiration from nature, relatively few have sought to directly employ harvester’s vibrational response is key to overcoming these challenges.

stimuli-responsive biomolecules and utilize selective transport. The Tuning the dynamics can be achieved by applying an active control signal,

research in the Sarles group specifically aims to address this gap by by implementing non-linear dynamics that broaden the bandwidth at

exploring how collections of functional biomolecules can be assembled to larger excitation amplitudes, by introducing resonant architectures with

enable selective transport, characterized, and applied in engineering multiple degrees of freedom, or by avoiding resonant architectures

uses. By leveraging molecular self-assembly at liquid interfaces, we have altogether. However, these approaches all introduce tradeoffs, ranging

developed droplet-based methods to assemble, characterize and from consuming some of the generated power to only being effective at

encapsulate biomimetic membranes capable of hosting functional high amplitudes or at specific vibrational frequencies. We have created

biomolecules and enabling selective transport. My talk will introduce the and demonstrated a family of harvester architectures in which the

22 techniques we have developed to construct, protect, and interrogate harvester’s structure and the ambient conditions interact to passively

nm-thick biomimetic membranes assembled from synthetic phospholipids, adapt the harvester’s dynamics to match the driving excitation. In some

natural lipid extracts, and amphiphilic block copolymers. I will also