Speaker: Shengjie Ling, ShanghaiTech University

Time: 20:00-22:00 p.m., July 25, 2023, GMT+8

Venue: Scan the QR code to watch online

Abstract:

Animal silks, such as those spun by spiders and silkworms, possess remarkable qualities like high strength, elastic modulus, and extensibility. These characteristics make them an ideal model for designing synthetic polymers. While industrial spinning techniques have made progress, no synthetic fiber matches the mechanical performance of silks. Understanding the structure-property-function relationship of silks inspires the development of high-performance synthetic materials. Continuous dynamic analysis reveals that silk's mechanical behavior differs from linear-elastic responses observed in traditional tensile tests. A viscoelastic model incorporating the time variable provides insights into the contribution of secondary structures to silk's dynamic behavior. Studying the mesoscale fibrillar architecture of silks confirms that nanofibrils enhance the ductility and damage tolerance of silk fibers through non-slip kinematics, restricted fibril shearing, and controlled slippage. We have also developed an algorithm combining deep learning and macromolecular statistical physics theory to deconstruct the intrinsic mechanical properties of silk nanofibers that have an important impact on the mechanical properties of silk. We further developed silk-based functional materials,for applications in smart sensing, power generation, display, biomedicine, and disaster warning, et.al.

Biography:

Shengjie Ling is an assistant professor and Principal Investigator in the School of Physical Science and Technology at ShanghaiTech University. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 from Fudan University and ETH Zurich, Switzerland, as a joint Ph.D. student. Prior to joining ShanghaiTech University, he worked as a postdoctoral associate at MIT and Tufts University from 2014 to 2017. His research focuses on basic research, application development, and industrial transformation of natural polymers. As the first/corresponding author, he has published over 120 papers in academic journals such as Nature Reviews Materials, Chemical Society Reviews, Nature Communications, Science Advances, and Advanced Materials. He has also served as a youth editorial board member for ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, Journal of Renewable Materials, Journal of Forestry Engineering, Materials Futures, and Nano-Micro Letters. He served as the Editor-in-Chief for a monograph on Fibrous Proteins. He was selected for the 2022 "Top 2% Top Scientists in the World Annual Scientific Influence Ranking List."

Source: iCANX