Formation of condensed matter is restricted by a fundamental trade-off between structural order and flexibility: crystalline materials tend to be stiff and brittle, whereas soft polymers tend to lack significant molecular order. In order to circumvent this fundamental limitation, we have created a new form of materials composed of mesoporous protein crystals integrated with hydrogel polymers. These hybrid materials can undergo dramatic, stimuli-responsive changes in structure while retaining their crystalline order and display a high extent of self-healing behavior.

Dynamic, self-healing protein crystals with integrated polymer networks

256th National Meeting (2018)

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