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Liquid metal remembers its original shape

17.12.2012

Scientists from Cornell University have created an organic metamaterial that can flow like a liquid, and then "remember" its shape and turn into a solid three-dimensional structure.

Under an electron microscope, the new material looks like a tiny bird's nest and is a hydrogel containing strands of synthetic DNA. Individual sections of DNA with a size of 1 micron serve as building blocks of a kind of Lego constructor and can be assembled into structures of various shapes. In this case, the gaps between the parts of the "constructor" create many tiny cavities that are filled with water. Thus, scientists have created a metamaterial - a substance with properties that are not found in nature.

The main unusual property of the new material is as follows: under the influence of gravity, the structure of the metamaterial is destroyed and it turns into a liquid. However, when placed in water, the structure regains its shape. The researchers demonstrated this unusual effect with a simple experiment: they made the letters D, N, and A out of hydrogel, and then poured them onto a hard surface. As a result, the letters became amorphous liquids. But after the hydrogel was poured into water, it regained its shape and turned into letters.

The shape of the gel can be changed in other ways, as long as the force acting on it is greater than the adhesion force of the DNA segments. For example, a hydrogel can be mixed with metal particles and placed in distilled water: when the electric field is turned on/off, they will either turn into a liquid or acquire their original volumetric structure.

So far, scientists are using a set of random genes, but they are going to select strictly defined genes that will allow the new metamaterial to be used in practice. Apparently, the practical purposes of using this substance will come up with the US Department of Agriculture and the Pentagon, which participated in the financing of scientific work.

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