Improved performance of biohybrid muscle‐based bio‐bots doped with piezoelectric boron nitride nanotubes
Improved performance of biohybrid muscle‐based bio‐bots doped with piezoelectric boron nitride nanotubes
Biohybrid robots, or bio-bots, integrate living and synthetic materials following a synergistic strategy to acquire some of the unique properties of biological organisms, like adaptability or bio-sensing, which are difficult to obtain exclusively using artificial materials. Skeletal muscle is one of the preferred candidates to power bio-bots, enabling a wide variety of movements from walking to swimming. Conductive nanocomposites, like gold nanoparticles or graphene, can provide benefits to muscle cells by improving the scaffolds’ mechanical and conductive properties. Here, boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), with piezoelectric properties, are integrated in muscle-based bio-bots and an improvement in their force output and motion speed is demonstrated. A full characterization of the BNNTs is provided, and their piezoelectric behavior with piezometer and dynamometer measurements is confirmed. It is hypothesized that the improved performance is a result of an electric field generated by the nanocomposites due to stresses produced by the cells during differentiation. This hypothesis is backed with finite element simulations supporting that this stress can generate a non-zero electric field within the matrix. With this work, it is shown that the integration of nanocomposite into muscle-based bio-bots can improve their performance, paving the way toward stronger and faster bio-hybrid robots.
bio-bots, biohybrid robots, biomaterials, boron nitride nanotubes, skeletal muscle tissue
Mestre, Rafael
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Fuentes, Judith
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Lefaix, Laura
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Wang, Jiaojiao
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Guix, Maria
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Murillo, Gonzalo
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Bashir, Rashid
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Sánchez, Samuel
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24 January 2023
Mestre, Rafael
33721a01-ab1a-4f71-8b0e-abef8afc92f3
Fuentes, Judith
c42e3685-cc15-4ed0-9226-f6a515fac8ef
Lefaix, Laura
48714965-aee9-456f-b4d7-57552e884f75
Wang, Jiaojiao
a88c7d35-8adf-4ab8-b635-afe445b815d6
Guix, Maria
1d56db95-bdea-49d3-9361-0417b8e53975
Murillo, Gonzalo
75a65c4a-385f-475f-a91e-6aa3aa4d8cdb
Bashir, Rashid
abd14e8c-fbdc-4d5e-beb5-8f32bced880d
Sánchez, Samuel
21f41564-f601-4df1-b6a5-3f8138911958
Mestre, Rafael, Fuentes, Judith, Lefaix, Laura, Wang, Jiaojiao, Guix, Maria, Murillo, Gonzalo, Bashir, Rashid and Sánchez, Samuel
(2023)
Improved performance of biohybrid muscle‐based bio‐bots doped with piezoelectric boron nitride nanotubes.
Advanced Materials Technologies, 8 (2), [2200505].
(doi:10.1002/admt.202200505).
Abstract
Biohybrid robots, or bio-bots, integrate living and synthetic materials following a synergistic strategy to acquire some of the unique properties of biological organisms, like adaptability or bio-sensing, which are difficult to obtain exclusively using artificial materials. Skeletal muscle is one of the preferred candidates to power bio-bots, enabling a wide variety of movements from walking to swimming. Conductive nanocomposites, like gold nanoparticles or graphene, can provide benefits to muscle cells by improving the scaffolds’ mechanical and conductive properties. Here, boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), with piezoelectric properties, are integrated in muscle-based bio-bots and an improvement in their force output and motion speed is demonstrated. A full characterization of the BNNTs is provided, and their piezoelectric behavior with piezometer and dynamometer measurements is confirmed. It is hypothesized that the improved performance is a result of an electric field generated by the nanocomposites due to stresses produced by the cells during differentiation. This hypothesis is backed with finite element simulations supporting that this stress can generate a non-zero electric field within the matrix. With this work, it is shown that the integration of nanocomposite into muscle-based bio-bots can improve their performance, paving the way toward stronger and faster bio-hybrid robots.
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Adv Materials Technologies - 2022 - Mestre - Improved Performance of Biohybrid Muscle‐Based Bio‐Bots Doped with
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 20 July 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 November 2022
Published date: 24 January 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
R.M. thanks “la Caixa” Foundation through IBEC International PhD Programme la Caixa Severo Ochoa fellowships (code LCF/BQ/SO16/52270018 and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant reference MR/S032711/1). M.G. thanks MINECO for the Juan de la Cierva fellowship (IJCI2016-30451), the Beatriu de Pinós Programme (2018-BP-00305), and the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia. The research leading to these results has received funding from the grant RTI2018-098164-B-I00 funded by MICIN/AEI/10.13039/5011000110333 and by “FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa” (BOTSinFluids project), the CERCA program by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya through the project 2017 SGR 1148, and the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa”, funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (CEX2018-000789-S). This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 866348; i-NanoSwarms). G.M. thanks La Caixa Foundation for the Junior Leader Retaining Fellowship program (LCF/BQ/ PR19/11700010) and MINECO for the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (RYC2020-030501-I). This study was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación from Spanish Government (PID2020-119350RA-I00, MICROBIO project) and the European Union - NextGenerationEU (EUR2020-112082, PIEZO2CELL). The work done at UIUC was funded by NSF EFRI C3 SoRo No. 1830881 and with support from the NSF Science and Technology Center Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems (Grant No. CBET0939511).
Funding Information:
R.M. thanks “la Caixa” Foundation through IBEC International PhD Programme la Caixa Severo Ochoa fellowships (code LCF/BQ/SO16/52270018 and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant reference MR/S032711/1). M.G. thanks MINECO for the Juan de la Cierva fellowship (IJCI2016‐30451), the Beatriu de Pinós Programme (2018‐BP‐00305), and the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia. The research leading to these results has received funding from the grant RTI2018‐098164‐B‐I00 funded by MICIN/AEI/10.13039/5011000110333 and by “FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa” (BOTSinFluids project), the CERCA program by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya through the project 2017 SGR 1148, and the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa”, funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (CEX2018‐000789‐S). This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 866348; i‐NanoSwarms). G.M. thanks La Caixa Foundation for the Junior Leader Retaining Fellowship program (LCF/BQ/ PR19/11700010) and MINECO for the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (RYC2020‐030501‐I). This study was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación from Spanish Government (PID2020‐119350RA‐I00, MICROBIO project) and the European Union ‐ NextGenerationEU (EUR2020‐112082, PIEZO2CELL). The work done at UIUC was funded by NSF EFRI C3 SoRo No. 1830881 and with support from the NSF Science and Technology Center Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems (Grant No. CBET0939511).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Materials Technologies published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Keywords:
bio-bots, biohybrid robots, biomaterials, boron nitride nanotubes, skeletal muscle tissue
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 475773
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/475773
ISSN: 2365-709X
PURE UUID: ed2d4795-2a9a-470e-8ed5-c8688d737de6
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Date deposited: 28 Mar 2023 16:38
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:10
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Contributors
Author:
Judith Fuentes
Author:
Laura Lefaix
Author:
Jiaojiao Wang
Author:
Maria Guix
Author:
Gonzalo Murillo
Author:
Rashid Bashir
Author:
Samuel Sánchez
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