Hierarchical Tissue-like Material from Nematic Synthetic Colloids with Adaptive Internal Microstucture

In living organisms, individual cells can evolve their cytoskeletal structures to adapt their shape and stiffness to the mechanical environment. On a collective level, such mechanical adaptation plays an important role in cell communication and the order formations in tissues. Inspired by this, we designed a colloid-based material with collective order arising from mechanical adaptation within individual elastomeric liquid crystalline microparticles. To begin with, we demonstrate through simulations and experiments that the internal ordering within individual particles can be tailored by subjecting them to different modes of mechanical deformation, enabling the material to evolve and differentiate under mechanical loading. Finally, the collective behaviors are studied in jammed particle assemblies with pronounced particle-particle contacts. Interestingly, depending on their interactions, "tissues" consisting of particles with different shapes and orderings can be obtained, ranging from symmetric honeycomb structures to lace-like organizations of elongated particles. Together, this work offers a new path for designing hierarchical ordered materials with adaptive properties that mimic living organisms.