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HYGRORESPONSIVE MATERIALS

Actuators powered by water hydrogen bonds

Nature Materials volume 20, pages 287–288 (2021)Cite this article

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Nanoporous tripeptide crystals mechanically deform upon water evaporation due to the strengthening of the water hydrogen bonding inside the pores, which causes the distortion of the surrounding supramolecular network, creating stresses that extend through the crystal lattice and result in actuation.

Liquid water can easily be associated with driving turbines and generators, but it can hardly be imagined powering miniature objects such as tiny organic crystals. Now, writing in Nature Materials, Tuttle, Ulijn, Chen and their collaborators demonstrate that evaporation of water from tripeptide crystals leads to the macroscopic contraction of the lattice by harnessing the collective force of ordered supramolecular interactions in these dynamic organic solids1. In much of a Goldilocks situation, the materials they describe are soft and deformable and yet sufficiently stiff to efficiently generate a momentum by the concerted action of strong hydrogen bonds.

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Fig. 1: A water-responsive supramolecular tripeptide crystal.

Adapted with permission from ref. 1, Springer Nature Ltd.

References

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  1. Smart Materials Lab, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Panče Naumov

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  1. Panče Naumov
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Correspondence to Panče Naumov.

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Naumov, P. Actuators powered by water hydrogen bonds. Nat. Mater. 20, 287–288 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00948-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00948-x

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