Design of bio-inspired complex active systems from polymer hydrogels through 3D finite element modeling and simulations

Biomimetic engineering inspires materials to derive the innate abilities of living organisms to achieve complex and multi-functional properties. Active complex materials that harness chemo-mechanical transduction can be futuristic materials for developing biomimetic technologies. In this work, we develop a generic finite element-based framework to simulate the mechanical response of active polymer gels powered by self-oscillating Belousov Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. Our approach combines the Flory Huggins theory to include polymer-solvent interactions, and non-Gaussian statistical mechanics, with limited chain extension, to account for large elastic deformations in polymer gels. Through our 3D simulations, we capture the dynamics of active BZ gels that transform to inactive polymer hydrogels in the limiting case. In addition, our simulations quantify the role of friction and the incompressibility of the polymer gels. Our findings can be utilized for designing a variety of bio-inspired systems of complex geometries from active soft materials including actuators, robots, sensors, etc.