Research

Stimuli-responsive soft materials 


Stimuli-responsive soft materials can change their shapes, volumes or functions in response to external stimuli, such as temperature, light, or electrical field. These amazing materials have applications in soft robotics, drug delivery and energy harvesting. Our group develops stimuli-responsive soft materials, investigates their constitutive behavior, and demonstrates their applications.

Deformation, instability, and fracture of soft materials


Soft materials are capable of nonlinear and large deformation, with highly nonlinear stress-strain behavior. As a result, a rich library of mechanical instabilities can occur in soft materials. Our group studies the nonlinear mechanics of soft materials, and in particular different modes of instabilities, including creasing, wrinkling, period doubling, and ridging. On the other hand, soft materials have unusual fracture behavior. Our group also strives to advance the understanding of fracture in soft materials.

Soft robotics and stretchable electronics


Soft robots, compared to their hard counterparts, show advantages in interacting with human beings and handling fragile objects. Stretchable electronic devices are essential for the sensing and actuation of soft robots, and transform the interaction between human beings and machines. Our group designs soft robots and stretchable electronic devices through computation and experiment.

Mechanical metamaterials


Mechanical metamaterials are materials with micro-architectures, which give rise to unusual mechanical properties that are difficult or impossible to achieve in homogeneous materials. Our group has developed mechanical metamaterials with various unique functions, including pattern transformation, reusable energy absorption, and tunable stress-strain behavior.

Biomechanics of soft tissues


Similar to soft materials, soft tissues have low modulus and undergo large deformation. On the other hand, as living materials, soft tissues often experience complex growth processes, involving multiphysics fields. Our group studies contraction of the heart, development of tumors, and morphogenesis of organisms.