Research Field B: Responsive Nanomaterials

Within research field B functionalization of materials and structures generated in field A are examined for controllablity and responsive behaviour.

 

Network of bacteriochlorophyll a pigments in a monomer of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex
Network of bacteriochlorophyll a pigments in a monomer of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex
© J. Neugebauer

Scientific Concept

In natural cells the diversity and complexity of the dynamic processes is mainly based on dynamic non-covalent interactions. Inspired by nature, soft materials shall be generated from non-covalent interacting molecular building blocks, which are capable to react to external stimuli and adopt to changes in the environment.

The central objective is to obtain such controllability with regard to well-definded structures and function from non-covalently bound units. Here, comparable with self-assembly, a non-linear behavior of the nanomaterials comes into effect, whereas the direct involvment of theory applying multiscale simulation procedures (ab initio, molecular dynamics, up to coarse-graining and Monte-Carlo models) is of great benefit.

Responsive Nanomaterials Research Topics