It is not difficult to imagine what is meant by 'Biologically Inspired Materials.'
Birds, fish, humans... we all possess the ability to adapt to our surroundings.
The bird corrects its flight to adjust for changing winds and conditions.
Fish can detect changes in water currents and change their swimming patterns accordingly.
Human skin heals itself.
Can we develop materials, inspired by biological entities, that
self-detect, self-correct, and self-heal?
Biologically Inspired Materials are being researched to:
- self-detect,
- self-heal, and
- self-correct.
See example Slide
Researchers are manufacturing materials that contain small carbon nanotube bio sensors. These sensors are on the scale of nanometers.
Using these sensors, an object can actually detect when and where there are circumstances that could affect the quality or procedure of the object.
For successful implementation in the real world, this technology needs to address the following:
- Must be easier and cheaper to manufacture than CMOS
- Need high current drive; should be able to drive capacitances of interconnects of any length
- High level of integration (>1010 transistors/circuit)
- High reproducibility (better than 5%)
- Reliability (operating time > 10 years)
- Very low cost ( < 1 µcent/transistor)
- Everything about the new technology must be compelling and simultaneously further CMOS scaling must become difficult and not cost-effective.
Until these two happen together, the enormous infrastructure built around silicon will keep the silicon engine humming….
See example of a scratch healing itself Video clip
Researchers are developing materials containing nanosensors that can process the self-detecting information
and go through healing processes automatically, such as the scratched surface in the video clip (above).
See example of a morphing aircraft inspired by eagle flight Video Clip
Possibly, the most fascinating of these topics is the idea that an aircraft or space craft
can use nanosensors to gather atmospheric data and morph itself for the optimum flight.
The conceptual video above shows a great visual depiction of this concept.
Credits
Self-detect slide has been provided courtesy of
M. Meyyappan, Director, Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center.
Self-healing video has been provided by Ilhan A. Aksay,
Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University.
Eagle video has been provided by NASA, sponsor of BIMat Centers
Link to Princeton University BIMat Center
Site Designed by: Marsha D. Mullins and Dr. Jim Jacobs
Last Updated: October 10, 2003
