Drops: A bio-inspired tool to fabricate granular materials

Nature produces soft materials possessing exceptional mechanical properties. These properties are to a large extent related to the well-defined structures and locally varying compositions of these natural materials. Key to the excellent control nature possesses over the structure and local composition of its materials is their fabrication: Many of these materials are formed from compartmentalized reagents that are transported to the desired locations where they are locally released. Inspired by nature, we use emulsion drops as compartments to build macroscopic granular hydrogels. In this talk, I will demonstrate how we convert individually dispersed emulsion drops into selectively permeable viscoelastic capsules that enable controlled localized release of reagents. I will present examples how these viscoelastic capsules and microparticles can be additive manufactured into strong and tough, adaptable macroscopic granular materials.