Functional Biocrystals
Overview & Vision
By 2050, the global population aged 60 and older will double to 2.1 billion, driving the urgent needs for advanced healthcare materials and related devices to restore body functions, improve life quality, and expand life longevity.
To avoid energy-intensive synthesis, biocompatibility concerns, and recycling/degradation issues associated with unsustainable materials, my career goal is to develop materials innovation platforms (e.g., 2D and 3D printing systems) for the deliberate design and discovery of biomaterials with exceptional optical and electrical properties (e.g., electromechanical couplings) and further apply them to create biomimetic battery-free intelligent devices for personalized healthcare application. My research will focus on establishing high-quality composition-process-structure-property relationships and understanding the multiscale stimuli-materials interactions that guide the biomaterial design, manufacturing, and application.
Electromechanically Responsive Biomaterials for Wearable and Implantable Medical Devices
Specific Research Interests
Functional Biomolecular Crystals and Arrays for Bioelectronics
My lab develops semiconducting and polar biomolecular crystals for sustainable bioelectronics, to overcome the inherent limitations of inorganic semiconductors in interfacing with biological systems. We use crystallization kinetics and molecular engineering to create responsive biocrystals with desired dipoles, band structures, and well-controlled crystal behaviors. Our research can create new insights into molecular structure-assembly-property relationships that will be used to synthesize novel biocrystal with unnatural properties. Using large-scale assembly, my lab will develop efficient, low power, but high-performance biomedical devices for healthcare applications.
Novel Non-centrosymmetric Bio-Crystals Discovery
My lab develops high-throughput platforms to synthesize and discover novel biocrystals with electromechanical couplings surpassing those of conventional benchmark materials. By integrating synthesis, screening, and large dataset processing with artificial intelligence (AI), my lab aims to form a closed-loop process to accelerate the biomaterials discovery. Our research can establish composition-process-structure-property relationships, which will guide the rational design and discovery of diverse biomaterials.
Multi-Functional Battery-Free Bio-System by Additive Manufacturing
My lab develops 3D printing processes to create electromechanically responsive bio-composites and fabricate all-in-one battery-free implantable systems with controlled 3D architectures, multi-compositions, and multi-scale features. The 3D printed electroactive materials and systems will not only mechanically mimic tissues and organs to enable biological functions but also incorporate electronic capabilities to provide healthcare solutions (particularly, real-time sensing and electro-stimulating). My lab creates patient-specific multi-functional implants. Additionally, we create fundamental insights into multiscale stimuli-material interactions and interfacial interactions between different materials and between materials and biology.
Summary
My research integrates biomaterials design, manufacturing, and application at multi-scale aiming for tackling challenges in healthcare and sustainability.