Interactive materials: guiding rational design through biomolecular characterization

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When you think about materials, building blocks for useful objects might spring to mind, such as wood for buildings, cloth for clothing, or copper for pots. Undeniably, materials have advanced from these early natural examples to include synthetic substances such as fibreglass, nylon and steel. As our engineering capabilities and needs increase, there is ever more demand for novel materials. One example is responsive materials that respond to external stimuli, such as piezoelectrics, which change shape in response to applied electric fields, or drug capsules, which melt to release medicine in response to temperature and pH. The ability to fine-tune material properties and response at a local level is an aim of much current research, for example to make self-healing systems, or to prescribe pathways for microscopic or nanoscopic motion, which could guide drug delivery or activation to very specific locations.