Biosynthetic self-healing materials for soft machines.

ABSTRACT: Self-healing materials are indispensable for soft actuators and robots that operate in dynamic and real-world environments, as these machines are vulnerable to mechanical damage. However, current self-healing materials have shortcomings that limit their practical application, such as low healing strength (below a megapascal) and long healing times (hours). Here, we introduce high-strength synthetic proteins that self-heal micro- and macro-scale mechanical damage within a second by local heating. These materials are optimized systematically to improve their hydrogen-bonded nanostructure and network morphology, with programmable healing properties (2-23 MPa strength after 1 s of healing) that surpass by several orders of magnitude those of other natural and synthetic soft materials. Such hea

SUBMITTER: Pena-Francesch A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7610468 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature