Inspired by the morphologies of xeric plant leaves, we have developed biomimetic liquid crystal elastomer bilayers that can bend, spiral and twist. These adaptive shape morphing structures can twist to improve water collection efficiency and wind resistance, suggesting their potential application in adaptive water collection and directional transportation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Li, X. et al. 3D-printed cactus-inspired spine structures for highly efficient water collection. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 7, 1901752 (2020). This paper demonstrates bioinspired spine structures for moisture harvesting.
Yang, Y. & Xu, F. Computational morphology and morphogenesis for empowering soft-matter engineering. Nat. Comput. Sci. 4, 388–390 (2024). A comment discussing mechanisms of morphological evolution, frontiers and challenges in computational morphogenesis.
Huang, C. et al. Differential growth and shape formation in plant organs. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 12359–12364 (2018). This paper reports the effects of non-uniform differential growth on plant leaf morphogenesis.
Quan, H. et al. Hydration-induced reversible deformation of biological materials. Nat. Rev. Mater. 6, 264–283 (2021). A review article that presents plant deformations that are driven by anisotropy caused by microfibrils in different layers.
Ambulo, C. P. et al. Four-dimensional printing of liquid crystal elastomers. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 37332–37339 (2017). This paper introduces the characteristics of the LCE and DIW techniques.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Yang, Y. et al. Active twisting for adaptive droplet collection. Nat. Comput. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-025-00786-w (2025).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xeric plants inspire adaptable liquid crystal elastomers for water collection. Nat Comput Sci 5, 275–276 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-025-00801-0
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-025-00801-0
