Value Proposition
· This technology demonstrates superior mechanical properties and has a simpler manufacturing process as compared to other mechanically adaptive materials.
· Unlike other existing materials, this technology enhances its own mechanical properties with cyclic loading, thus reducing the costs associated with failure and repeated inspections.
· The technology has wide applicability for use in soft robotics, vehicles, infrastructure, and tissue engineering.
Technology Description
· Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed a piezoelectric scaffold material that allows for simultaneous enhancement of multiple crucial properties for structural performance.
· The material was inspired by bone and strengthens in response to mechanical loading instead of degrading.
· The published data demonstrates the material has favorable properties that are superior in property change, dissipated energy, toughness, and storage density than existing mechanically adaptive materials.
Unmet Need
· Material properties gradually degrade under cyclic loading, which ultimately leads to failure.
· Factors influencing material failure, such as load bearing and energy dissipation capabilities, are difficult to optimize simultaneously
· Current approaches to optimize material properties are difficult to synthesize and often enhancing one property still comes at the cost of another
· Therefore, there is a strong need for a technology to be developed that can simultaneously optimize mechanical properties over time.
Stage of Development
· In vitro studies have been performed.
Data Availability
Data available upon request.
Publication
Sun B, Kitchen G, He D, Malu DK, Ding J, Huang Y, Eisape A, Omar MM, Hu Y, Kang SH. A material dynamically enhancing both load-bearing and energy dissipation capability under cyclic loading. Sci Adv. 2025 Feb 7;11(6):eadt3979. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adt3979. Epub 2025 Feb 7. PMID: 39919188; PMCID: PMC11804925.
