Abstract Scope |
Living organisms are abundant with examples of light adaptable features that are crucial for their survival. Cuttlefish, for example, can detect the amount of light in the surrounding and can adapt their pigments to match this. As technology is hurdling towards bio-inspired and bio-compatible solutions, inherent adaptability to external stimulus remains an elusive quality. Here, a concept is introduced that incorporates light adaptive features for programmable material responses. By combining programmable DNA strands with gold nanorods, we propose a strategy to engineer dynamic light adaptive features into hydrogel materials. The strategy utilizes fabricating a poly(acrylamide-co-DNA-AuNR) hydrogel system consisting of thermo-reversible hydrogen bonds, with light adaptive reconfigurable mechanical and optical features. Upon visible light stimulus, the photothermal energy induced by the AuNRs by converting light to heat, thereby leading to macroscopic reconfiguration of mechanical and endowing hydrogels with polarizable optical properties. |