Mechanical metamaterials perform computing abstractions in physical systems by processing environmental stimuli into information. However, they rely on compliant mechanisms to achieve predefined states, which impose inherent design restrictions that limit their miniaturization, deployment, reconfigurability, and functionality. We have designed a new metamaterial system based on responsive magnetoactive Janus particle (MAJP) swarms. These particles are designed with dynamic structures that enable reversible switching mechanisms.
This new type of metamaterial has multiple programable and reconfigurable functions that are not possible to implement in traditional metamaterial systems, including dynamic display, non-volatile and semi-volatile memory, Boolean logic, and information encryption, all of them integrated in soft, wearable devices.
This metamaterial provides a new tool to design materials with reconfigurable structure and properties, which is a major goal of the IRG and the MRSEC towards the reutilization of adaptive devices on demand to eliminate waste. Particularly, this metamaterial system opens new opportunities for the design of multifunctional and reconfigurable display devices, and constitute a promising building block to develop soft physical computing devices, with growing applications in security, defense, anti-counterfeiting, camouflage, soft robotics, and human-robot interaction.
Published: Zhang, et al. "Janus Swarm Metamaterials for Information Display, Memory, and Encryption." Advanced Materials 36.45 (2024): 2406149. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202406149
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