Complex, three dimensional (3D) assemblies of micro/nanomaterials form naturally in biological systems, where they provide sophisticated function in even the most basic forms of life. In spite of their broad potential utility in man-made devices, design options for analogous abiotic 3D mesostructures are severely constrained by the comparatively primitive capabilities that are available with established techniques for materials growth, assembly and 3D printing. This talk summarizes progress on strategies that rely on geometric transformation of preformed 2D functional micro/nanostructures into 3D architectures by controlled processes of actively induced compressive buckling. The emphasis is on the foundational materials and mechanics principles, computational approaches that enable inverse designs, and examples of applications in areas ranging from thermoelectrics to microelectromechanical systems to biologically inspired open mesoscale microfluidic/electronic networks as functional interfaces to 3D cell cultures, including spheroids, organoids, assembloids and mini-brains.
Bio
Professor John A. Rogers obtained BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989. From MIT, he received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry in 1992 and the PhD degree in physical chemistry in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, Rogers was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in the Condensed Matter Physics Research Department in 1997, and served as Director of this department from the end of 2000 to 2002. He then spent thirteen years on the faculty at University of Illinois, most recently as the Swanlund Chair Professor and Director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. In the Fall of 2016, he joined Northwestern University as the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine, with affiliate appointments in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemistry, where he is also Director of the recently endowed Institute for Bioelectronics. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
