Biomimetic Nanocomposites: Water‐Rich Biomimetic Composites with Abiotic Self‐Organizing Nanofiber Network (Adv. Mater. 1/2018)

Water-rich biomimetic composites from aramid nanofibers interlaced with poly(vinyl alcohol) are presented by Nicholas A. Kotov and co-workers in article number 1703343, which are visualized by electron microscopy. The hydrogen-bonding interactions among the nanoscale building blocks enable stress-induced reconfiguration of the network, as well as a set of surprising mechanical behaviors that are similar to or even superior than load-bearing soft tissues, such as cartilage.