Researchers at Northwestern University have recently uncovered a previously unknown property of colloidal crystals, nanoparticles' highly-ordered three-dimensional array.

As specified in a Phys.org report, the team engineered colloidal crystals with complementary strands of DNA and discovered that dehydration crumpled the crystals, "breaking down the DNA hydrogen bonds."

 

However, when researchers added water, the crystals bounced back to their original state within seconds.

The new research describes the shape memory occurring after changes to a colloidal structure, which is not acceptable in other crystal types.

Responding to external stimuli, reversible constructional changes in the said materials could result in associated dynamic functional changes, making them useful in chemical and biological sensing, optics, and soft robotics.

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DNA Retracing Its Steps

In the paper published in the Nature journal, Northwestern's Chad Mirkin, who led the study, explained that the deformed crystal has different properties when broken down.

However, DNA is retracing its steps. Imagine if a hurricane destroyed a house, but then every ail and board went back to their original state to reform the house following the passing of the storm.

That is equivalent to what's happening here, with these crystals at the nanoscale. Mirkin, a nanotechnology pioneer, is the George B. Rathman Professor of the International Institute for Nanotechnology.

The new property, a type of hyperelasticity paired with shape memory, is regulated by the particle interconnecting specific sequence of DNA and influences the object's structure and compressibility. 

Building Colloidal Crystals

Due to the plasticity of the crystal, this material can break down and come back together. Such a discovery builds on work that Mirkin started in 1996. 

At the time, his team reported how DNA could be used as a sequence-encoded bonding material, a glue that can be used to construct colloidal materials, some of which have properties and structures similar to conventional crystals that exist in nature, while others have structures and properties "that have never been found in nature," a similar ScienceDaily report said.

The discovery is building on work that Mirkin began in 1996. During that time, his team reported how DNA could be used as a sequence-encoded bonding material. 

In the paper, the study investigators described a new approach for making crystals much larger than have ever been made in the past, once large enough that the naked eye can see them.

'On' and 'Off' Crystals

Describing the materials, Mirkin said they are remarkable; even damage to the skin, which has an intrinsic and remarkable ability to regenerate, leaves scars.

In this circumstance, that does not happen. The DNA code in these crystals guides them back to their original states.

Such an ability could help control chemical reactions and create new classes of light switches, where "on" is the conventional crystal, and "off" is the deformed one, stimulated by small changes in flow and force.

Related information about colloidal crystals is shown in D D's YouTube video below:

 

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