超材料
材料科学
硅
纳米技术
光子超材料
自愈水凝胶
光电子学
复合材料
高分子化学
作者
Jong Bum Lee,Songming Peng,Dayong Yang,Young Hoon Roh,Hisakage Funabashi,Nokyoung Park,Edward J. Rice,Liwei Chen,Rong Long,Mingming Wu,Dan Luo
标识
DOI:10.1038/nnano.2012.211
摘要
Metamaterials are artificial substances that are structurally engineered to have properties not typically found in nature. To date, almost all metamaterials have been made from inorganic materials such as silicon and copper, which have unusual electromagnetic or acoustic properties that allow them to be used, for example, as invisible cloaks, superlenses or super absorbers for sound. Here, we show that metamaterials with unusual mechanical properties can be prepared using DNA as a building block. We used a polymerase enzyme to elongate DNA chains and weave them non-covalently into a hydrogel. The resulting material, which we term a meta-hydrogel, has liquid-like properties when taken out of water and solid-like properties when in water. Moreover, upon the addition of water, and after complete deformation, the hydrogel can be made to return to its original shape. The meta-hydrogel has a hierarchical internal structure and, as an example of its potential applications, we use it to create an electric circuit that uses water as a switch.
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