CaltechA nanotruss structure fabricated by Caltech researcher Julia Greer.
The building blocks of the future are being developed in
research labs today. From graphene production en masse to metamaterials
that rethink the form and function of conventional construction mediums,
here are five innovations with the potential to change architecture
today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Unbreakable Materials
Julia
Greer, a materials science and mechanics professor at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech), uses two-photon lithography to create
precise polymer nanotrusses
that can be coated in materials like metal or ceramic, hollowed out to
remove the polymer, and then stacked in a fractal
construction—essentially a nanotruss made of nanotrusses. The newly
created material couples the structural and material properties of its
medium, such as metal or ceramic, to possess previously unheard of
characteristics including flaw-tolerance and shape memory. The lab is
trying to scale the process from its current millimeter size to that of a
sheet of letter-sized paper. But don’t expect to see the metamaterial
used in structural members or cladding, Greer says. Rather, likely uses
in the built space include battery cells, smart windows, heat
exchangers, and wind turbines. “You can make paper that is un-wettable,
thermally insulating, and untearable,” she says. “You can let your
imagination go wild.”
Resilient, Self-Cleaning Finishes
For application to glass, steel, paper, and other materials, a new coating
from researchers at the University College London resists moisture even
after being scratched or exposed to oil—typical weak spots for
conventional repellent coatings. Made from coated titanium dioxide
nanoparticles, the finish rejects water, oil, and even red wine by
bouncing the invasive substances off its surface and removing dirt in
the process. Although the coating is currently applied in
20-centimeter-square areas, “we see no reason why this couldn’t be
scaled up,” says Ivan Parkin, head of the university’s chemistry
department and corresponding author of a paper on the research in the
journal Science. Parkin’s team has talked about automobile paint and
moisture-resistant coatings as possible applications for the technology.
It could eventually be used to create a durable, self-cleaning façade
that can better withstand the elements than current options on the
market.
Wave Benders
Researchers at the University of Missouri have developed
a new way to control elastic waves—which can travel through materials
without altering their composition—that could protect structures from
seismic events. The team developed and engraved a geometric
microstructure pattern (shown below) into a steel plate to bend or
refract elastic and acoustic waves away from a target. “By redirecting
the shock waves carrying massive energy around the important
infrastructures or residential buildings through a metamaterial cloak,
civilian lives and common properties can be saved from catastrophic
earthquakes or tsunamis,” says Guoliang Huang, an associate professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering. The team chose steel for its
ubiquity but Huang says other metals and plastics can be engineered to
have similar functionality.
Guoliang Huang
More (and Better) Graphene
Caltech researchers say they’ve found
a faster way to mass-produce graphene—the ultrathin and superstrong
nanomaterial discovered at the University of Manchester in the U.K. in
2004—and at a higher quality than was previously possible. Their
batch-processing method allows for the growth of smoother and stronger
graphene sheets than do conventional thermal processes, while cutting
production time from hours to minutes and increasing sample sizes from
millimeters to—soon—inches. The process doesn’t require the development
of new processing equipment or infrastructure, says David Boyd, a
Caltech staff scientist and first author of the related paper published
in the journal Nature Communications. “It’s process-compatible,”
he says. Still, the most likely applications for graphene in
architecture are in small-scale products such as coatings, solar cells,
and electronics.
Nature CommunicationsEarly-stage graphene growth on copper, magnified from left to right.
Stronger Concrete
At Purdue University, researchers are adding
cellulose nanocrystals derived from wood fiber to concrete.
Nano-reinforced materials typically outperform conventional alternatives
across a range of mechanical and chemical properties—among them
strength, impact resistance, and flexibility. When applied to
construction materials like concrete, they help to reduce a structure’s
environmental footprint by requiring less material to achieve a similar
effect. The nanocrystal additive can be extracted as a byproduct of
industrial agriculture, bioenergy, and paper production. Its addition
enhances the concrete-curing process, the researchers say, allowing the
concrete to use water more efficiently and without impacting its weight
or density significantly. Construction materials are among the target
applications for the additive, Purdue associate professor Jeffrey
Youngblood says, but the team is still working to scale it up from
current dimensions of 1 foot tall by 6 inches in diameter, assessing
data to standardize and optimize the material’s behavior. “We hope to be
at a large test scale in a few years,” he says.
