Programmable Resilin Assembly using Materials-Binding Peptides for Bioinspired Resilient Elastomeric Materials of Precise Morphologies
Abstract
Resilin, a protein found in insects, forms the basis of crosslinked polymeric materials with remarkable elastomeric properties and long fatigue life, making it one of the most resilient elastic materials in existence. For example, crosslinked resilin can recover its original shape even after tensile loading over a time-scale of weeks. These properties give rise to its extraordinary energy storage capabilities in nature, such as the ability of fleas to jump to heights of up to 200 times their body length. The spatial arrangement of the resilin chains in the crosslinked material exerts a strong influence over the mechanical properties. However, control of this spatial arrangement is challenging to achieve. To date, lab-based resilin-derived materials cannot recover the natural materials’ performance, due to a lack of precise control over this spatial organization. In addition to the elastomeric properties, resilin-like peptides can also respond to stimuli such as temperature and pH, providing intriguing capabilities not typically achieved with elastomeric materials. Together, these properties offer a strong basis for designing a new class of multifunctional materials that could be pivotal to the long-term development of resilient structures for energy and flying applications of interest to the Air Force. However, the molecular-scale details of the peptide organization are challenging to obtain via experiment alone; molecular simulations could provide groundbreaking insights, but have been under-utilized in this area. This makes an exciting opportunity to shift resilin into the realm of multifunctional high-performance materials, via the discovery of new fundamental insights into their structure-property relationships.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310253
Entities
People
- Marc R Knecht
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Miami