Smart Materials That React to the Environment

Paper ID:

463

Last updated: 31/01/2012 09:08:31

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Where: Regional

When: 3-10yrs

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Keywords:

smart, materials, nanotechnology, displays, bio-mimicry, molecular manufacturing, biofilters, membranes, biology and biotechnology

Summary

Smart materials - a variety of materials engineered for special qualities and capable of interacting with the larger environment - are likely to proliferate in the coming decades, serving purposes ranging from protecting us and helping us to saving energy. Some are already in use, such as shape memory metals, which 'remember' their original shape even after severe deformation.

Discussion

Smart materials are materials that are engineered to perform specific tasks. Some of these are simply high-performance materials, such as the genetically engineered dragline spider silk demonstrated by Nexia Biotechnologies and used in super-strong, super-light military uniforms. But the smart materials that are likely to have the most impact are those that sense changes in the environment, react to it, and even signal their state - in other words, materials that function as both sensors and actuators. These materials would need power, albeit in small amounts. They might draw energy from their environment, perhaps from sunlight, air currents or other sources, or be powered by fuel cells.

Skin is a naturally-occurring smart material. It senses sunlight and changes its pigmentation in response. Its changing colour signals that tanning or burning is occurring. Most biological materials are smart in some sense, and this is why organic templates will probably be important both for designing and manufacturing smart materials in the future.

The key to these future smart materials is our growing understanding of the world at the molecular level and our ability to manipulate it at that level. Understanding how molecules cross membranes could allow us to design materials that can function as delivery platforms (a T-shirt that delivers vitamins through the skin over an 8-hour period) or filters (a biofilter that protects a water or air supply from bacteria). Eventually, it is possible that we could develop smart materials that are able to sense our DNA and respond to our genotype for both diagnostic and drug delivery purposes. Smart materials for use in the body, such as oxygen-absorbing materials for damaged lungs, or artificial retinas, are a high-value application that could lead the way to other uses of the technology.

Smart materials could be embedded with either silicon-based or organic sensors, producing paints with millions of tiny sensors that respond to the environment and communicate with one another to strengthen the insulation in cold or damp weather, or ink-jet fluids with organic molecules that respond to electrical signals, forming the basis of flexible displays.

Smart materials are likely to find important applications in the following areas:

Smart textiles - MIT's Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology is exploring materials that take on different camouflage colours and patterns to match the immediate environment of soldiers.
Health - New materials could be developed that perform healing functions, such as delivering antibiotics to wounds or hardening into a cast if a limb is broken.
Security - In a world concerned about terrorism, nanomaterials could help develop products that detect toxins in the environment and protect the wearer against infection. Smart materials could also be used in biometrics for identification purposes. A much-discussed use of smart materials is to create food packing which would react, perhaps by changing colour, if the food inside was dangerous to eat.
Displays - Smart, flexible, thin displays could be manufactured out of smart materials.

Climate change - the building industry is famously conservative about the methods and materials it employs. Newer materials might allow buildings to become whiter if the Sun is shining brightly, or darker on days when it is essential to catch as much solar energy as possible. Current buildings are mainly built of materials such as brick, glass and concrete which are made at high temperatures and so involve massive amounts of embedded carbon. But materials of comparable strength are created in low-energy ways in nature, for example when a mollusc grows a shell. This suggests that smart materials technology may offer substantial energy savings in producing building materials. (See reference to Foresight SEMBE project.)

Engineering - current aircraft wings have complex movable surfaces to adjust their shape, for example for takeoff and landing. Birds do not need this complication. Future aircraft might make use of smart materials to change their wing shape without moving components.
Energy - More efficient batteries as well as energy-saving materials and devices can be manufactured using smart materials. Smart materials might also allow renewable energy equipment to survive better in tough environments. Thus a wave-energy machine could alter its shape to gather as much energy as possible from the sea as the waves varied in size, and shut down safely in an extreme storm.

This technology could lead to a new manufacturing paradigm. Just as microelectronics introduced a novel set of manufacturing challenges, from unique substrates and photolithographic techniques to clean rooms, molecular manufacturing could change the way we organise the manufacturing of special-purpose materials. Instead of assembling in clean rooms, we might assemble in clean vessels. Molecular manufacturing could also feed back into the engineering and design processes, bringing about further technological developments.

The same applies to the potential for smart materials to monitor their own condition. "Sensual materials" would be able to assess their condition, repair themselves when possible, and ask for human help when they needed it. At the moment, planned maintenance is a massive cost for many industries. It often involves usable equipment being replaced simply because of the number of hours it has been in use. Smart materials could cut this overhead.

There is growing awareness of the need for critical equipment to be robust in the face of extreme events. For example, solar flares are known to have damaged satellites and power grids. Smart materials might allow them to shut down or shield themselves automatically, far more rapidly than would be possible if a human operator had to intervene.

Implications

Improved health and security; Increased energy efficiency and more use of renewables
New special-purpose materials industry

Early indicators

Introduction by Nexia Biotechnologies of a genetically engineered dragline spider silk -- a fibre with superior strength, light weight, and resistance to tearing;
Development by MIT's Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology of fabrics that can change colours, patterns, textures, and porosity to camouflage, protect, and even heal the wearer;
Development by Neophotonics of a molecular manufacturing process for photonic applications in telecom and health technologies.
Smart materials already in use in cars and elsewhere
Designers integrate displays and light-emitting fabrics into their designs of wearables, furniture and building materials.
Smart materials are used to detect bioterrorist threats and monitor health risks in the environment.
Investments in nanotechnology by developed countries rise substantially, amounting to $3.7 billion by the US between 2005 and 2008, $3 billion by Japan in the same time period, and $7.5 billion by the European Union between 2007 and 2013.
Investments in nanotechnology by several developing countries -- particularly China, Brazil, and India -- increase.
Media airs debates and conflicting views on nanotechnology and smart materials.

Drivers & Inhibitors

Growing investments in nanotechnology, which serves as a good proxy for anticipating advances in smart materials.
Need for buildings to be built more greenly and to cope with climate change, involving more extremes of heat and of rain and drought; also related need for durable renewable energy equipment.
Need for a new generation of far lighter and more efficient cars and other vehicles, including aircraft

Parallels & Precedents

The advent of microelectronics with its manufacturing challenges[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

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Ref.	Publisher	Date	Title	Category
1	Other		A-Z of Materials, reference to Smart Materials link	Tech
2	Other		Institute for the Future (2003) The Connected World", SR-809."	Tech
3	Other		IFTF New World Map (2002) Technology for the Coming Decade, SR-774."	Tech
4	Princeton University Press		Ball, P, (1999) Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century, Princeton 1999, ISBN 0691009759	Tech
5	Other		Naoyuki Tajima et al, Overview of the Japanese Smart Materials Demonstrator Program and Structures Systems Project, Advanced Composite Materials, 13, 1, 3-15, 2004	Tech
6	Other		Foresight project on Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment	Tech
7	Other		Science Daily (2008) Smart Materials get smarter with ability to better control shape and size	Tech
8	Other		Bullis, K., (2006) Smart Materials could help engineer a new liver, Technology Review	Tech
9	Other		Motor Authority (2007) New 'smart' materials to revolutionize car design	Tech

Other Sources

Link	User
Professor Liu Yong, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	CP
Smart Antennae, Ohio State University	CP
Smart Food Packaging, Michigan State University	CP
University of the West of England	CP

The contents of this paper were provided by the Outsights-Ipsos MORI Partnership. Any views expressed are independent of government and do not constitute government policy.