Li Group

Organisms encounter numerous survival challenges, including predation, nutrient acquisition, environmental extremes, reproduction, and communication. To address these challenges, they evolve specialized materials and structures with remarkable robustness and resilience. For example, mollusks such as conch and abalone develop hard, strong, mineralized shells for defense, while some mollusk-eating fish adapt with a second set of jaws and strong teeth to crush these shells.

But how do seashells achieve such exceptional strength and fracture resistance when their primary chemical composition resembles brittle chalk? How does nature address multifunctional challenges, and what evolutionary pressures shape the microstructures of biological materials? What mechanisms drive the formation of these complex structures?

Humans face similar material challenges: How can we design strong, damage-resistant, and lightweight structures? Can we integrate multiple functions into a single material system? How can we develop materials with lower energy requirements and minimized environmental impact?

The Li Group’s research has two core objectives: (1) Material Rules of Life: to understand how natural organisms solve material challenges through a multidisciplinary approach; and (2) Biologically-Inspired Material Engineering: to apply these biological principles in material design and processing to create innovative solutions for engineering challenges, ranging from structural protection to energy efficiency and medical applications.

Our key research areas include biological structural composites, lightweight structures, multifunctional designs, formation mechanisms, and bio-inspired material design and processing. Our organism models encompass various vertebrate and invertebrate species, including mollusks (gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods, pteropods), echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins), insects (butterflies, spiders, beetles), sponges, birds, corals, and more. Our specific research interests span biomineralization, biomechanics, biooptics, cellular solids, in-situ characterizations, 3D material science, self-assembly, crystal engineering, composite processing, and adaptive material systems.