A mechanical metamaterial made from a DNA hydrogel

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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

517 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 copper1,2, which have unusual electromagnetic or acoustic properties1,5 that allow them to be used, for example, as invisible cloaks6,9, superlenses10-12 or super absorbers for sound13. 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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)816-820
Number of pages5
JournalNature Nanotechnology
Volume7
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2012

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