Nanowerk  July 25, 2023 Continuous nanolattices are an emerging class of mechanical metamaterials that are highly attractive due to their superior strength-to-weight ratios, which originate from their spatial architectures and nanoscale-sized elements possessing near-theoretical strength. Rational design of frameworks remains challenging below 50 nm because of limited methods to arrange small elements into complex architectures. A team of researchers in the US (Columbia University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Connecticut) fabricated silica frameworks with ∼4- to 20-nm-thick elements using self-assembly and silica templating of DNA origami nanolattices and performed in situ micro-compression testing to examine the mechanical properties. They observed […]