HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

SusArt · Sustainable Artificial Iridocytes for Designed Visual Appearance

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-08-01 → 2025-07-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 189 687 €
Участници: 1
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Изкуствени клетки, вдъхновени от тези на рибите, се създават от биоразградими полимери за генериране на цветове чрез структуриране на светлината. Това помага за замяната на традиционните пигменти от тежки метали и петролни химикали, които замърсяват околната среда.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Sustainable Artificial Iridocytes for Designed Visual Appearance

Color is a fundamental part of human life, from art and culture to consumer products such as packaging, cosmetics, and textiles. Today, most commercial pigments and colorants are produced from petroleum-based chemicals and heavy metals. These materials are often non-biodegradable, generate waste during production, and contribute to environmental pollution, including microplastic accumulation. At the same time, there is a growing societal and industrial demand for sustainable alternatives that combine functionality with environmental responsibility. Nature offers a powerful inspiration for designing new colorants. Many living organisms, from butterflies to fish, create vibrant, iridescent colors not through chemical pigments but through structural coloration—the interaction of light with periodic nanoscale structures. Mimicking these natural systems provides a pathway to sustainable colors with reduced environmental impact. By merging polymer chemistry, self-assembly, and bio-inspiration, the SusArt project (Sustainable Artificial Iridocytes for Designed Visual Appearance) was designed to explore this pathway. The project’s main objective was to create artificial iridocytes (light-reflecting cells found in fish and cephalopods) using biodegradable bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs). By controlling the self-assembly of these polymers into ordered nanostructures, the project aimed to develop sustainable, tunable photonic materials that can replace traditional pigments. Beyond coloration, these materials hold potential for adaptive coatings and smart optical devices.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Visual appearance (e.g. vibrant colouration) is important for communication in Nature. A particularly interesting example is the aggregates of reflector cells, or so-called ""iridocytes"", found in marine creatures. Iridocytes are combined in their skin to produce a wide variety of colour effects; depending on their individual properties and spatial arrangement, they can show intense colours when all iridocytes have same periodicity, or a bright white, when the optical response from differently coloured iridocytes is superimposed.Inspired by this natural strategy, the aim of this proposal is to produce artificial iridocytes. This will be achieved by exploiting the inherent tendency of block copolymers to self-organise into periodic nanoscale structures in solution. In particular, by allowing for this evaporation-driven process to occur within miniscule droplets, it will be possible to produce particles that reflect specific colours of light. Analogous to natural iridocytes, by combining different populations of such particles into a film it will be possible to control the overall appearance. Building on this concept, we will investigate how the shape of the particles and their ensemble arrangement can be used to introduce more sophisticated visual effects, from metallic or iridescent shine to a smooth matte appearance. Finally, we will seek to develop 'smart' coatings, where the appearance can dynamically respond to a stimulus, such as magnetic field.Our novel approach to coloration has a broad range of potential commercial applications, like inks, paints, cosmetics, displays, sensors. Importantly, by considering the life cycle of the polymers from the outset of the project we will ensure that the produced pigments are not only non-toxic, but also bio-compatible and bio-degradable. This will allow us to respectively address the growing concerns regarding the safety of existing mineral-based pigments and the extent of environmental pollution by microplastics. ""

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENКоординаторГермания