15.09.12 – 14.10.12

MAGICAL MATERIALS

What makes a material magical? An ability to change shape before your eyes, to turn from a liquid to a solid or to be one of the lightest materials on earth and yet also one of the strongest? MAGICAL MATERIALS explores the properties of some of the world’s most mysterious materials, giving you an opportunity to investigate and experiment at the cutting edge of material science.

Curators

Michael John Gorman - Founding director Science Gallery Dublin

Lynn Scarff - Director Science Gallery Dublin

Mary Colclough - CRANN, TCD, researcher for Magic Materials

Maria Phelan - Science Gallery, TCD, researcher for Magic Materials

Highlights

BIOGLASS SCAFFOLD

A tissue-engineered matrix with mechanical properties of high specific stiffness and strength. The glass scaffold is porous with a compressive strength comparable to that of cortical bone and important for a broad range of emerging applications, including filters, catalyst support, and tissue engineering scaffolds.

ARTIFICIAL PHOTOSYNTHESIS

A biomimetic process that replicates capturing and converting sunlight energy, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen. Using CNT-embedded polymers or nickelmolybdenum- zinc films, this process replaces nature’s use of pigments such as chlorophyll.

SILK

Silk is edible, biodegradable and implantable with strength, durability and a strong capacity to be conductive, fluorescent and drug-eluting. Potential applications include programmable biodegradable orthopaedic hardware, vein and artery replacement, drug storage and delivery systems, smart sensors [such as food ripening detection] and optical 3D display systems.

SCAFFOLD FOR CARTILAGE GROWTH

A matrix developed through tissue engineering that can regenerate damaged tissues by combining cells from the body with highly porous scaffold biomaterials, which act as templates to guide the growth of new tissue.

Experiments

BIODEGRADEABLE PLASTICS

Plastics made from bacteria [PHB] and cornstarch [PLA] that degrade in soil with no adverse effects and that can dissolve in water [PVA]. All biodegradable with real commercial applications in the packaging industry—and potential to reduce our toxic landfill sites.

Nitinol [NiTi] Heart Valve

Bruce Murphy, Biomechanical Engineering, TCD, Ireland.

Silk Bones, Food Sensors and Vein Replacements

Fiorenzo Omenetto, TUFTS University Boston, US.

Biodegradable Plastics

Trevor Woods [School of Physics, TCD], Maciej Guzik & Kevin O’Connor [School of Biomolecular & Biomedical Science UCD and the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland].

Artificial Photosynthesis and CNT Embedded Polymer Film

David Coker & Laura Herz, University College Dublin [UCD], Ireland and Oxford University, UK.

Collagen Scaffold and Cell Culture

Fergal O’Brien & Tanya Levingstone, The Bone and Tissue Engineering Research Group of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland [RSCI].

Stereo Microscope, Light Microscope and Inverted Microscope

Colin Darby, Micron Optical & Zeiss, Ireland.

QUANTUM DOTS

Nanoscopic crystal semiconductors [of cadmium telluride or cadmium selenide] whose electronic and optical properties are related to the size, shape and composition of the individual crystal and fluoresce under UV light. Potential applications include in synthetic photosynthetic systems, transistors, solar cells, LEDs, diode lasers, medical imaging and quantum computing.

NANOGOLD

A revolutionary biosensor based on engineered gold nanoparticles [the diameter of one is about 20 billionths of a metre], nanogold can be used to label proteins for tumour detection and diagnosis.

SILICON CANTILEVER

Microbial sensors with selective coatings [eg. immunoglobulins] for targeted immobilisation of microbes determined by changes in vibration frequency, and which can determine the level of microbial activity in a drop of blood—invaluable for potential application in emergency and bedside testing for bacterial or viral infection.

SILVER NANOPARTICLES

Triangular, hexagonal or disc-shaped nanoparticles with unique size-dependent optical, electrical, magnetic and anti-microbial properties. They form highly conductive wires and coatings for applications such as transparent electrodes, photovoltaic cells and wound management.

TITANIUM DIOXIDE [TiO2]

Photocatalytic and low lux light solutions that can be coated onto many surfaces such as glass or hospital theatre walls to help them self-clean or purify the air around them.

Nanogold Demonstration

Éilis McGrath, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Silicon Cantilever

Martin Hegner, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Silver Nanoparticles and Quantum Dots Display

Louise Bradley, John Kelly, Astrid Wachauer, Valerie Anne Gerard , CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

HELIUM ION MICROSCOPE

Affords the highest resolution surface imaging of bulk materials from a scanning microscope of 0.4 nanometres, to look at polymer based systems and biological specimens.

SOFT BATTERIES

An all-printed power source that is flexible and thin, made of low cost environmentally friendly materials, based on zinc and manganese dioxide. Used for low power applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and RFIDs and functional embedded packaging.

SILICON

Silicon, chemically purified [and made from sand] is the most abundant element on earth after oxygen. It is made as wafers and used in electronic chip manufacturing because it is a natural semiconductor.

PHOTONIC CRYSTALS

The optical equivalent of the semiconductor, with the reflection and diffraction properties of opal gemstones and certain butterfly wings. This opalescence allows the manipulation of light in a number of optical devices.

SILVER NANOWIRES

Extremely strong and flexible material with good thermal conductivity. Imagine a computer screen that could be bent, folded in half, and even crumpled like a sheet of newspaper, without affecting its function in the slightest. Used as active components in electronic devices, biosensors and light harvesting systems.

CARBON NANOTUBES [CNTs]

50–100 times stronger than steel at one quarter of the density and 10 times stickier than the adhesion forces of gekko feet, CNTs can be exploited in small electronic devices and in high strength composites used in anything from bridges to bicycle parts.

DYE-SENSITISED SOLAR CELLS

Titanium dioxide [TiO2] photocatalytic nanoparticles, sandwiched between platinum coated glass plates and coated in the light absorbing dye for electrons to pass through. Extremely lightweight and flexible, the cells can even generate a portable form of electricity from the ambient light in your home.

Experiments

GRAPHENE

A single layer of graphite [the stuff in your pencil] and just one atom of carbon thick, it is 200 times stronger than steel, an excellent electrical conductor and impermeable. This superstar nanomaterial is the future of electronics, from fast transistors to transparent conducting electrodes, gas sensors to touch screens.

Silicon

Leonard Hobbs, Intel, Ireland.

Photonic Crystals

Martyn Pemble, Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Ireland.

This work is supported by Science Foundation Ireland Grant Number 07/IN.1/1787, Fundamental Studies of Optically Active Materials based on Advanced Growth Techniques and Colloidal Crystallisation, and Grant Number 11/PI/1117,  New Materials and Devices for Optical Applications via the use of Hybrid Technologies: Colloidal Crystallisation and Advanced Thin Film Deposition

Dye Sensitised Solar Cell

Lorcan Brennan, Yurii K. Gun’ko, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Graphene Battery

Valeria Nicolosi, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Remote Access to Helium Ion Microscope

Cathal McAuley, Advanced Microscopy Lab, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Nanowires Flexible and Conductive Screen

Philip Lyons, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Graphene Sonication and Graphene Strain Rubber System

Umar Khan, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Infinion CNT Wafer

Georg Duesberg, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Vial of Graphene

Johnny Coleman, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE POLYMER

A touch-sensitive colour-changing polyester that changes from black through the visible spectrum in between the temperature range of 25ºC to 30ºC.

CONDUCTIVE FABRIC

A regular piece of fabric treated with a conductive polymer that has no effect on its strength, feel or flexibility—yet allows it conduct electricity.

OSMOTEX

Osmotex is a textile membrane with extremely powerful and electronically controlled moisture transport, with potential applications in air conditioning and cooling in buildings, garments, beds, seats, transport and medicine. The moisture transport can be regulated from zero to more than 200 liter per square meter and hour, which is more than 100 times more than the conventional textile membranes.

ORICALCO

Fabric woven from a shape memory polymer that causes the fibres to contract in heat—so long sleeves on a shirt can suddenly become short sleeves.

ENERGEAR

A fabric that reflects a body’s Far Infrared Rays [FIRs] back to the wearer, promotes blood circulation and increases oxygen levels in the blood.

SUPERHYDROPHOBIC MATERIAL

An antimicrobial material that mimics the lotus leaf, repelling both water and blood.

SHADOW50+

A fabric that absorbs and reflects UV radiation.

SPACE SKIN

Reflects 97% radiated heat and has strong mechanical properties.

DRYCOT

A polyester yarn made from 100% postconsumer recycled plastic bottles that feels natural. Fibres are arranged so moisture passes efficiently from the inside to the outside.

CALO-TEX

Cotton impregnated with carbon nanotubes that enable it to be conductive and keep the wearer warm, which can also be used like a wire to power an LED.

LUMINEX

A fabric with integrated optic fibres that can be arranged to power LEDs or integrated with sensors and microelectronics to create smart clothing.

AEROGEL

The world’s lightest solid, created from a gel where the liquid component is replaced with a gas. A good thermal insulator that is used by NASA to collect stardust.

HAND-MOLDABLE PLASTIC

A polycaprolactone thermoplastic that has a comparatively low melting point of 60°C and can be melted and reformed into a new shape many times.

HYDROGEL

A network of flexible polymer chains that are hydrophilic and can hold up to 500 times their own weight in water.

SHAPE-RETAINING PLASTIC

A polyethylene plastic that bends like a metal, but holds its shape unless you bend it back.

SELF-HEALING PAINTS

A polyrotaxane-based paint that enables small grazes to heal within an hour and deeper cuts to heal in up to a week.

SHAPE MEMORY METALS AND POLYMERS

Metals and polymers that deform at one temperature and recover their original undeformed shape upon heating.

FERROFLUID

A liquid that becomes strongly magnetised in the presence of a magnetic field.

AUTO-HEALING POLYMERS

A silicon polymer sheet that when cut, forms new bonds and and can weld itself back together.

SELF-HEALING PLASTICS

Plastics that bleed red when damaged and heal themselves when light or heat is applied.

Shape Memory Polymer

[video and samples] Nick Puckett, AltN, Canada.

Ferrofluids

Éilis Mc Grath, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Light Sensitive Polymers

Silvia Giordani, Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices [CRANN], Trinity College Dublin [TCD], Ireland.

Shape Memory Alloys

[Film and samples] Armin Lau & David Kiel, AVALON FP7 Research Consortium, Aarhus University, Denmark.

SILICON NITRIDE

A compound of silicon and nitrogen that is incredibly strong over a broad temperature range. It’s the material of choice for the ball bearings in NASA’s Space Shuttle and is so strong it can smash concrete.

SUPERCONDUCTORS

A metal that will conduct electricity without any resistance below a very low temperature, usually –234oC. Superconductors repel magnetic forces below certain temperatures and in very special conditions demonstrate the remarkable phenomenon of quantum locking.

TRANSPARENT CONCRETE

A strong concrete panel that is also transparent. This concrete transmits light due to the inclusion of glass fibres which also give structural integrity. Their small size means they just blend into the concrete.

ALUMINIUM NITRIDE

An engineered ceramic that has extremely high thermal conductivity; meaning if you hold an aluminium nitride wafer in your hand for a short time, your body will provide enough heat for the wafer to cut through ice like butter.

SILK

A material as tough as kevlar that has existed for more than 5 millennia. It is biodegradable, can be used in microelectronics, is edible, sustainable and biocompatible. Researchers have recently genetically engineered silkworms to produce stronger and more elastic ‘spider silk’.

CARBON NANOTUBES [CNTs]

A nanometre scale tube of graphite carbon with incredible tensile strength [50–100 times stronger than steel at one quarter of the density] and semi-conductive properties. Variations in their length, thickness, layers and type of helicity [structure] can completely change their remarkable electrical properties.

Nano Holograms

Graham Cross, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Magnetic Levitation

Mike Coey & Karl Ackland, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.

Invisibility Cloak Demonstration

Science Gallery, TCD, Ireland.

Spider Silk Demonstration

Christopher Holland, Oxford University, UK.

Carbon Nanotubes

Johnny Coleman, CRANN, TCD, Ireland.