One of the grand challenges in science is development of soft materials that mimic living organisms to optimize the way we use energy, translate or morph reversibly or sense their envi- ronment and respond in a useful fashion. Using the insights from studying biological structures, we hope to design soft matter that can be transformative in emerging areas such as biomedicine, soft robotics and actuators. Design of switchable soft actuators that can be controlled by external stimuli, such as pH, light and ionic strength, requires an understanding of specific molecular interactions. Using atomistic and coarse-grained models with classical molecular dynamics simulations, we provide insight into the conformational changes of bio-inspired materials in response to external stimuli. This thesis explores computational methods used in understand- ing interactions in molecular self-assembly to design novel bio-inspired materials, including a pH-responsive ultrasmall nano-grafted nanobin for drug delivery applications, supramolecular- covalent hybrid polymers for light-activated robotic functions and multivalent cation-induced actuation of DNA-mediated colloidal superlattices.

Creator

• Iscen, Aysenur

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-50pd-6t11

Subject

• Materials Science
• Biochemistry
• Computational chemistry

Language

• en

Alternate Identifier

• http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:14770
• etdadmin_upload_679718

Date created

• 2019-01-01

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright