Shucong Li (李姝聪)

Shucong Li (李姝聪)

Postdoc in Mechanical Engineering,

ZhaoLab, MECHE, MIT

About

As a researcher in material science, I’ve been always fascinated by the intelligent materials—living organisms—that nature creates. To survive and master in the ever-changing environment, “nature uses soft materials frequently and stiff materials sparingly – better bent than broken” (Vogel, 1995), and is capable of tasks that surpass even the most impressive machines that humans have devised.

Interested in synthetically constructing soft intelligent materials, my research focuses on exploiting the rich dynamics in molecular switches and molecular assemblies, and its coupling to mesoscale architectures and macroscale material properties, to realize new exciting functions based on self-regulation across lengthscales. By bringing the intelligence of soft materials to the next level, I’m hoping to realize next-generation multifunctional materials with increased autonomy to address challenges in healthcare, energy, and sustainability.

Specialties: polymer chemistry, material synthesis, nanofabrication

Towards intelligent soft materials

Eliciting diverse motion trajectories in a single-material micropost
Eliciting diverse motion trajectories in a single-material micropost


Related publications:
1. Shucong Li, Michael M Lerch, James T Waters, Bolei Deng, Reese S Martens, Yuxing Yao, Do Yoon Kim, Katia Bertoldi, Alison Grinthal, Anna C Balazs, Joanna Aizenberg (2022).
Self-regulated non-reciprocal motions in single-material microstructures. Nature.
2. James T Waters, Shucong Li, Yuxing Yao, Michael M Lerch, Michael Aizenberg, Joanna Aizenberg, Anna C Balazs (2020). Twist again - Dynamically and reversibly controllable chirality in liquid crystalline elastomer microposts. Advanced Materials.
3. Yuxing Yao, James T Waters, Anna V Shneidman, Jiaxi Cui, Xiaoguang Wang, Nikolaj K Mandsberg, Shucong Li, Anna C Balazs, Joanna Aizenberg (2018). Multiresponsive polymeric microstructures with encoded predetermined and self-regulated deformability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
4. Emily C Davidson, Arda Kotikian, Shucong Li, Joanna Aizenberg, Jennifer A Lewis (2020). 3D printable and reconfigurable liquid crystal elastomers with light‐induced shape memory via dynamic bond exchange. Advanced Materials.