title: Shape-Shifting Droplet Networks.
abstract: We consider a three-dimensional network of aqueous droplets joined by single lipid bilayers to form a cohesive, tissuelike material. The droplets in these networks can be programed to have distinct osmolarities so that osmotic gradients generate internal stresses via local fluid flows to cause the network to change shape. We discover, using molecular dynamics simulations, a reversible folding-unfolding process by adding an osmotic interaction with the surrounding environment which necessarily evolves dynamically as the shape of the network changes. This discovery is the next important step towards osmotic robotics in this system. We also explore analytically and numerically how the networks become faceted via buckling and how quasi-one-dimensional networks become three dimensional.
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Program and Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NewYork 13244, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Program and Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NewYork 13244, USA.
authors.forename: Duanduan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Program and Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NewYork 13244, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Program and Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NewYork 13244, USA.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bowick
mesh_terms: D008954:Models, Biological; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants / Q000033:anatomy & histology