Research summary
Reducing the waste energy and environmental impacts generated by consuming fossil fuels entails reducing structural weight and including energy harvesting. Inspired by cellular materials with shape-changing properties, Dr. Abdohamid Akbarzadeh Shafaroudi, Canada Research Chair in Bio-inspired Hierarchical Multifunctional Metamaterials, is trying to use multifunctional metamaterials to do this. These metamaterials are a cutting-edge class of ultralight smart materials with tunable mechanical, hygrothermal and electromagnetic properties.
Shafaroudi and his research team are using multiscale modelling, 3D printing and experimental characterization to develop lightweight, structurally durable, multifunctional metamaterials. The goal of these metamaterials is to achieve a high-energy harvesting capability with programmable multi-physical properties for simultaneous structural, sensing, actuating and energy-harvesting applications.