TY - JOUR

T1 - Physicochemical basis for water-actuated movement and stress generation in nonliving plant tissues

AU - Bertinetti, Luca

AU - Fischer, Franz-Dieter

AU - Fratzl, Peter

PY - 2013/12/5

Y1 - 2013/12/5

N2 - Generating stresses and strains through water uptake from atmospheric humidity is a common process in nature, e.g., in seed dispersal. Actuation depends on a balance between chemical interactions and the elastic energy required to accomplish the volume change. In order to study the poorly understood chemical interactions, we combine mechanosorption experiments with theoretical calculations of the swelling behavior to estimate the mechanical energy and extract the contribution of the chemical energy per absorbed water molecule. The latter is highest in the completely dry state and stays almost constant at about 1.2 kT for higher hydrations. This suggests that water bound to the macromolecular components of the wood tissues acquires one additional hydrogen bond per eight water molecules, thus providing energy for actuation.

AB - Generating stresses and strains through water uptake from atmospheric humidity is a common process in nature, e.g., in seed dispersal. Actuation depends on a balance between chemical interactions and the elastic energy required to accomplish the volume change. In order to study the poorly understood chemical interactions, we combine mechanosorption experiments with theoretical calculations of the swelling behavior to estimate the mechanical energy and extract the contribution of the chemical energy per absorbed water molecule. The latter is highest in the completely dry state and stays almost constant at about 1.2 kT for higher hydrations. This suggests that water bound to the macromolecular components of the wood tissues acquires one additional hydrogen bond per eight water molecules, thus providing energy for actuation.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84889770399&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.238001

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.238001

M3 - Article

C2 - 24476305

AN - SCOPUS:84889770399

VL - 111.2013

JO - Physical review letters

JF - Physical review letters

SN - 0031-9007

IS - 23

M1 - 238001

ER -