Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024 - 26

Materials & Coatings
A Lightweight Material Stronger than Steel
The material possesses qualities that are uncommon and further research could lead to novel
engineering and defense applications.
Brookhaven Laboratory, Upton, NY
W
orking on the nanoscale gives researchers
a lot of insight and control
when fabricating and characterizing
materials. In larger scale manufacturing,
as well as in nature, many materials have
the capacity for flaws and impurities that
can disrupt their complex structure. This
creates several weak points that can easily
break under stress. This is common with
most glass, which is why it is thought of as
such a delicate material.
Scientists at the Columbia University,
University of Connecticut, and the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven
National Laboratory were able to fabricate
a pure form of glass and coat specialized
pieces of DNA with it to create a
material that was not only stronger than
steel, but incredibly lightweight. Materials
that possess both of these qualities are uncommon,
and further research could
lead to novel engineering and defense
applications. The results were published
in Cell Reports Physical Science.
In living things, deoxyribonucleic
acid, more commonly known as DNA,
carries biological information that instructs
the cells of organisms on how to
form, grow, and reproduce. The material
DNA is made of is known as a polymer,
a class of tough, elastic materials that includes
plastic and rubber. Their resilience
and simplicity have intrigued material
scientists and inspired many
interesting experiments. Oleg Gang, a
Materials Scientist at the Center for
Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), a DOE
Office of Science User Facility at
Brookhaven Lab, and a professor at Columbia
University, has been leveraging
DNA's unique properties for materials
synthesis for years, resulting in numerous
discoveries. This novel technology has inspired
an array of innovative applications
- from drug delivery to electronics.
Gang had previously worked with the
paper's lead author, Brookhaven postdoctoral
researcher Aaron Michelson, on an
experiment using DNA structures to
build a robust framework for novel materials.
DNA molecules behave in an inter26
Oleg
Gang, pictured behind, and Aaron Michelson use the specialized resources at CFN to measure
the surprising strength of this novel material structure. (Image: BNL)
AB
Nanolattices (This study)
103
102
101
10-1
100
10-2
101
Foams
102
Density ρ (kg/m3)
103
PC Cubic+Octet [16]
Carbon Lattice [55]
Carbon-Aluminum Lattice [55]
Polymer-Cuboctahdron [48]
104
Metals
Ceramics
Polymers
Natural Materials
7
6
5
4
3
2
Aluminum - Cuboctahedron [48]
Inverse Opal Tio2 Coated [53]
Inverse Opal Silica [53]
500nm
A graph comparing the nanolattices in this experiment to the relative strength of various materials.
(Image: BNL)
esting way. The individual nucleotides,
basic units of nucleic acids like DNA and
RNA, dictate the bonding between complementary
sequences. The precise way
they bond to each other allows scientists
to develop methods to engineer the folding
of DNA into specific shapes referred
to as origami, named after the Japanese
art of paper folding. These DNA shapes
are nanoscale building blocks that can be
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programmed using addressable DNA
bonds to " self-assemble. " This means that
well-defined structures with a repeating
pattern can spontaneously form from
these origami DNA blocks.
These blocks then cling together to
form a larger lattice - a structure with a
repeating pattern. This process allows scientists
to build 3D ordered nanomaterials
from DNA and integrate inorganic
Tech Briefs, February 2024
Compressive Yield Strength αγ (MPa)
Edge Length µm
αγ, Suquet
αγ, Voight ~ E/10

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Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024

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