Magnetic Handshake Polymers with Designable Properties

Magnetic handshake materials [1] have allowed for the creation of artificial homopolymer systems on the centimeter scale by using a chain of magnetic panels with a 2x2 square array of magnetic dipoles embedded within. By controlling the bending energy between adjacent panels of these systems, we can understand the physical shape of a strand, predict its persistence length behavior, and even gain selective control of the strands or get the strands to exhibit long range order via the addition of an external magnetic field. In addition, the scale-invariant nature of magnetism and geometry allows for the manufacturing of similar magnetic polymer systems on the nanometer to micrometer scale.

[1] Niu, et al. PNAS, 116 (2019)