REsponsive, interacTINg screen based on smArt materials

The ambitious MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Project RETINA (REsponsive, interacTINg screen based on smArt materials) will create a novel material platform for adaptive screen possessing display, haptics and sensing functionalities.

The scientific excitement is based on an exceptionally novel concept of entrained stimuli-responsiveness, which brings about programmed connections between all functions.

The technical key is the liquid crystalline (LC) materials that will provide the smart responsiveness, i.e., human-body temperature actuated liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) for haptics, polymer dispersed chiral liquid crystal (PDCLC) for color display and printed electrodes on LCE substrate for adaptive soft electronics.

Coupling between different stimuli, i.e., force, heat and electric fields, enables the screen’s performances highly interactive and adaptive.

The project output – a pixelized display prototype, with measurable performances – will open new great opportunities in the field of soft robotics and smart materials.

This training-through-research during the RETINA will propel my independent academic career with a goal of achieving young group leadership and becoming a tenure track professor.