Morphogenesis is nature’s way of building diverse structures and functions out of a fixed set of components. While nature is rich with examples of morphogenesis — cell differentiation, embryonic development and cytoskeleton formation, for example — research into the phenomenon in synthetic materials is scant. Researchers are taking a step forward using electron tomography, fluid dynamics theories and machine learning to watch soft polymers as the polymers learn from nature.

The new study, led by Qian Chen, a professor of materials science and engineering; Jie Feng, a professor of mechanical science and engineering; and Xiao Su, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; is the first to demonstrate nanoscale morphogenesis in a synthetic material. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

«You may see the filters in your home water purification systems as simple membranes with pores, but they are much more sophisticated when we zoom in using electron tomography,» said former Illinois postdoctoral researcher Hyosung An, the study’s lead author and a professor of petrochemical materials engineering at Chonnam National University in South Korea. «By capturing images of sample membranes from a rotatable stage, we can reconstruct their full 3D morphology at sub-nanometer resolution.»

Imaging from varying angles allows the researchers to see the intricate 3D structure of the membranes — with all their crumples, inner voids and networks — at a spatial resolution not possible before. The structures are so complex that traditional shape descriptors, like radius and length, are invalid, said Chen, who led the experimental portion of the study.

To help team members get their heads around the complex nature of the membranes, graduate students John W. Smith and Lehan Yao developed a machine learning-based workflow to digitize the structure parameters.

Smith and Yao’s efforts made an immediate impact.

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau. Original written by Lois Yoksoulian. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.