PhD 2025 : Magnetic aerogel granular materials for soft robots

Magnetic soft robots are capable of tether-free, instantaneous and “programmable” shape change in a magnetic field, which is promising for various biomedical and industrial applications, including minimally invasive medical procedures and targeted delivery. Precise magnetic actuation requires the use of bottom-up fabrication techniques in which magnetic interactions are well-controlled on the level of the structural element.

The objective of this PhD project is the fabrication of magnetic soft robots via the assembly of magnetic, bio-based, porous particles with tailored magnetic anisotropy and mechanical properties. The use of these new building blocks should allow for simple and scalable shaping of soft magnetic robots. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles will be embedded within bio-based aerogel beads (nanostructured, stable and porous materials) and different methods for the assembly of these beads into macroscopic structures will be investigated. Also the magneto-mechanical properties and actuation capacity of the granular materials will be explored towards their use as soft robots.

This ambitious, explorative and interdisciplinary project is located at the interface of material science, polymer processing, magneto-mechanics, soft robotics and soft matter. The majority of the work will be performed at CEMEF in Sophia Antipolis in the south of France.

This lab has extensive experience in the preparation and physico-chemical characterization of polymer-based materials, including bio-based aerogels.

The magneto-mechanical characterization and actuation capacity of the bio-aerogel bead assemblies will be carried out at the SIMM lab in Paris, which has an international reputation when it comes to magnetic soft robotics and mechanical characterization of soft materials. Budget has been reserved for mobility between the two involved laboratories and for dissemination of results at national and international conferences.

• see more here : https://www.cemef.minesparis.psl.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PhD-position-MAGMA.pdf

• Apply on line :   https://applyfor.cemef.mines-paristech.fr/phd/

CEMEF is a research lab. of MINES ParisTech I PSL University associated with CNRS, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS, UMR7635).

Overall, our missions are research and training in collaboration with industry.

Our research focuses specifically on materials and their transformation processes in the broadest sense. It extends additionally to other fields such as fluid mechanics, biomechanics or HPC for instance. On the other hand, our training programmes offer post-graduate courses related to our scientific fields of expertise. Furthermore, we are attentive to the scientific needs of industry and we set up research projects with industrial companies.

A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH LABORATORY

CEMEF studies the science of materials and forming processes. This twofold research theme is in fact at the origin of the creation of our research lab. Thus, from the outset, CEMEF has been interested in the analysis of manufacturing processes, i.e. it studies the entire chain consisting of the material / the process / the finished product .

• Knowledge of materials science, ideally with experience in soft matter and rheology or mechanics
•  fluent in English
• taste for initiative
• MSc thesis completed

Contact:

• sijtze.buwalda@minesparis.psl.eu