The project will start by developing microscopic motors that can be controlled by external magnetic fields. The next step will be to conceive methods for incorporating ferromagnetic particles into elastic membranes.

The novel properties of these metamaterials will then be used to produce prototype devices such as magnetically driven membranes for pumping and filtering fluids down to the microscopic scale.  Such membranes are needed by industry for numerous applications, including water filtration.

Magnetic metamaterials can also be used to build tuneable optical devices – such as lenses and filters – which play a key role in medical research and sensing technology.

Magnetically controlled metamaterials hold the potential to improve research into biomedical implants, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research. The ABIOMATER project will seek to develop magnetic material-based devices that ensure lab cells are subject to the same magnetic fields and strains to which they would be exposed in the body. These would make it possible to carry out more accurate research, potentially leading to breakthroughs in fields such as biomedical implants and personalised medicine.