[Sustainable&Bioinspired] New seminar series launched with a talk by Prof. Eva Blasco from Heidelberg University

On 11 November 2022, the 'Sustainable & Bioinspired Seminar Series', organized by the MaP doctoral school, Julie Laurent (Complex Materials, Prof. André Studart), and Yong Ding (Wood Material Science, Prof. Ingo Burgert), was launched. The seminar series aims at inviting experts from the field to help doctoral students and scientists to question and discuss the future challenges in Material Science.

For the first event, Prof. Eva Blasco from Heidelberg University gave an inspiring talk on 4D printing with a focus on sustainable and living systems. This led to an exciting discussion session – thank you to all the participants!

A 4th dimension can be introduced by 3D-printing objects that are able to change their properties over time. This type of approach has already been demonstrated at a macroscale, but Prof. Blasco's work focuses on micro- and nanoscale printing of stimuli-responsive samples. A next step will be to print structures that are responsive to multiple stimuli to be able to create more complex movements to get closer to “life-like” behaviour. Her research group is also working on biobased and biodegradable printable materials to ideally replace the non-degradable and non-recyclable standard inks available today.

For information on the next seminars and registration, please visit our website.