People | Smart Photonic Materials (SPM)

Team Leader

Arri Priimägi

Professor
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Tampere University
+358445150300
arri.priimagi@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5945-9671

About me

I am a Professor of Chemistry and lead a research group Smart Photonic Materials (click here to enter our web page and scroll down to find in CV and publication list in pdf form). We conduct research on functional soft materials whose properties can be controlled by external stimuli. We especially focus on light-activated materials because light offers a clean and remote stimulus that can trigger material changes with high spatial and temporal resolution. We apply these materials to various directions such as soft robotics, photonics and biomaterials science.

Light has many faces, as do functional materials. Put them together, and the possibilities are limitless!

In scientific research, I believe in

Interdisciplinarity: We need both physicists and chemists to understand new materials. And we need new materials for technologies of tomorrow.
Collaboration: Let's join forces, since together we are stronger. And by working together, let's make Tampere University stronger.
Basic science: Scientific research should not be driven by short-term technological or societal needs. By laying the foundations properly, the technological and societal advancements will follow.

We work as part of the Chemistry & Advanced Materials Research Cluster as well as the PREIN Flagship on Photonics Research.

Check out also the below videos:
More on our science - Video 1
More on our science - Video 2

Research career

Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University (01/2019-)
Associate Professor (tenure track), Laboratory of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology (05/2017-12/2018)
Assistant Professor (tenure track), Laboratory of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology (09/2014 - 04/2017)
International Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemica Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (12/2013 - 08/2014)
Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology (12/2010 - 12/2012)
- Aalto University Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University (08/2010 - 11/2013)
PhD in Department of Applied Physics, Helsinki University of Technology (10/2004 - 09/2009)
MSc in Department of Phycsis, Tampere University of Technology (08/2003 - 09/2004)

Project links

Top achievements

- Gathering an excellent research team, full of motivated and bright minds that are willing to combine their strengths.

- Being granted the Academy of Finland Award for Scientific Courage in 2018, thanks to the excellent team!

- Winning the ERC Starting Grant in 2016, and the ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2018.

- Taking the courage to live and work in Japan, which was an invaluable experience both professionally (thanks to Prof. Atsushi Shishido) and personally (thanks to the life-long friendships made).

- Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2009, by the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, made me feel that I did something right during my PhD work.

- Most importantly, raising two lovely and talented kids, who love me despite the fact that I work too much :)

Selected publications

Some good reads from the past few years

C. Fedele, E. Mäntylä, B. Belardi, T. Hamkins-Indik, S. Cavalli, P.A. Netti, D.A. Fletcher, S. Nymark, A. Priimagi, T.O. Ihalainen, "Azobenzene-based sinusoidal surface topography drives focal adhesion confinement and guides collective migration of epith elial cells ", Scientific Reports 2020, 10, 15329.
H. Shahsavan, A. Aghakhani, H. Zeng, Y Guo, Z.S. Davidson, A. Priimagi, M. Sitti, "Bioinspired underwater locomotion of light-driven liquid crystal gels ", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2020, 117, 5125.
H. Zeng, H. Zhang, O. Ikkala, A. Priimagi, "Associative Learning by Classical Conditioning in Liquid Crystal Network Actuators ", Matter 2020, 2, 194.
H. Zhang, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, O. Ikkala, "Programmable responsive hydrogels inspired by classical conditioning algorithm", Nature Communications 2019, 10, 3267.
A. Berdin, H. Rekola, O. Sakhno, M. Wegener, A. Priimagi, "Continuously tunable polymer membrane laser", Optics Express 2019, 27, 25634.
O.M. Wani, R. Verpaalen, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, A.P.H.J. Schenning, “An artificial nocturnal flower via humidity-gated photoactuation in liquid crystal networks“, Advanced Materials 2019, 31, 1805985.
M. Lahikainen, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, “Reconfigurable photoactuator through synergistic use of photochemical and photothermal effects“, Nature Communications 2018, 9, 4148.
H. Zeng, P. Wasylczyk, D.S. Wiersma, A. Priimagi ”Light Robots: Bridging the Gap between Microrobotics and Photomechanics in Soft Materials”, Advanced Materials 2018, 30, 1703554.
M. Poutanen, Z. Ahmed, L. Rautkari, O. Ikkala, A. Priimagi, “Thermal Isomerization of Hydroxyazobenzenes as a Platform for Vapor Sensing “. ACS Macro Letters 2018, 7, 381.
J. Vapaavuori, C. G. Bazuin, A. Priimagi, "Supramolecular design principles for efficient photoresponsive polymer–azobenzene complexes", Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2018, 6, 2168.
O.M. Wani, H. Zeng, A. Priimagi, ”A Light-Driven Artificial Flytrap”, Nature Communications 2017, 8, 15546.
H. Zeng, O.M. Wani, P. Wasylczyk, R. Kaczmarek, A. Priimagi, ”Self-Regulating Iris Based on Light-Actuated Liquid Crystal Elastomer”, Advanced Materials 2017, 29, 1701814.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Chiara Fedele

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Tampere University
chiara.fedele@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4014-4186

More information

About me

I am originally trained as a materials engineer at University of Naples “Federico II”, but since my doctoral studies at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia I combined my expertise on materials with my passion for biology and health research. Here in Tampere University, I work as postdoctoral researcher in the Smart Photonics Materials (SPM) group under the supervision of Prof. Arri Priimägi and in tight collaboration with BioMediTech institute. The aim of my research is the development of light-responsive materials to study and control cell functions in a dynamic environment.

Check out our web page to know more about SPM research!

Field of expertise

My main expertise resides in the design of smart interfaces for cell culture. In particular, I am greatly interested in the materials structure-property relationship. Light-responsive small molecules such as azobenzenes can isomerize in response to light, provoking fascinating photomechanical effects when embedded inside bulk materials (e.g. amorphous polymers, cosslinked liquid crystalline materials). For instance, we can modify the surface topography of glassy thin films by interference lithography and create grooved supports to align cells and control their directional migration. Moreover, we use different imaging techniques to characterize materials and cell behaviour (e.g. Atomic Force Microscope, Digital Holographic Microscope, Confocal microscopes).

Research topics

Light-responsive materials, Topography, Biomaterials, Cell-material interface.

Research career

- Currently Postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University (2019-, formerly Tampere University of Technology 2017-2019)

- PhD in Product and Process Engineering at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia/University of Naples "Federico II" (2014-2017)

- MSc in Materials Engineering at University of Naples "Federico II" (Italy) (2011-2013)

- BSc in Materials Science and Engineering at University of Naples "Federico II" (Italy) (2008-2011)

Funding

Selected publications

Hongshuang Guo

Academy Postdoctoral Researcher
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Tampere University
+358 468415232
hongshuang.guo@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3503-1774

More information

About me

I am a chemist working in a chem-opti-material science laboratory. My interest is to design and fabricate all kind of stimuli-responsive materials, devices or systems.

These responsive materials are based on chemically synthesized materials and then deform under various stimuli. And explore the relationship between the molecular structure of the material and the stimulus response.

I aim to provide novel materials and structural designs through my research, these materials can extend some new phenomenon to existing research fields.

Responsibilities

Successfully complete the tasks arranged by the boss

Find fun in scientific research

Find scientific research inspiration from life

Field of expertise

Good at chemical synthesis and coating preparation, good at designing various functional liquid crystal elastomer materials

Research topics

LCE

Research unit

Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences

Research fields

Soft robot, LCE

Mission statement

Selected publications

1. H., Guo,Y., Han, W., Zhao, et al. Universally autonomous self-healing elastomer with high stretchability. Nat Commun 11, 2037 (2020).

2. H., Guo, T., Xu, J., Zhang, W., Zhao, J., Zhang, C., Lin, L., Zhang*. A multifunctional anti-fog, antibacterial, and self-cleaning surface coating based on poly (NVP-co-MA). Chem. Eng. J., 2018, 351, 409-417.

3. H., Guo#, J., Yang#, T., Xu, W., Zhao, J., Zhang, Y., Zhu, C., Wen, Q., Li, X., Sui, and L., Zhang*. A robust cotton textile based material for high flux oil-water separation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11, 13704-13711.

4. H., Guo#, J.,Yang#, W., Zhao, T., Xu, C., Lin, J., Zhang, and L., Zhang*. Direct formation of amphiphilic crosslinked networks based on PVP as a marine anti-biofouling coating. Chem. Eng. J., 2019, doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.06.025.

5. C., Wen#, H., Guo#, H., Bai, T., Xu, M., Liu, J., Yang, Y., Zhu, W., Zhao, J., Zhang, M., Cao* and L., Zhang*. Beetle-Inspired Hierarchical Anti-Bacterial Interface for High Efficient Fog Harvesting. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11, 34330-34337

Own links

Tero-Petri Ruoko

Assistant Professor (tenure track)
kemia
Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Tampere University
+358503205986
tero-petri.ruoko@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3091-1051

More information

About me

I am an Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) in Photochemistry. I lead the research group Spectroscopy and Light-Active Materials (SLAM), which focuses on advanced time-resolved optical spectroscopy, spectroelectrochemistry of semiconducting polymers and organic electronic devices, and high-efficiency light-emitting materials. We are a part of the Chemistry & Advanced Materials (CAM) research cluster and the PREIN Flagship on Photonics Research.

Research unit

Spectroscopy and Light-Active Materials, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences

Research fields

Photochemistry, electrochemistry, organic electronics, light-emitting materials

Funding

Latest publications