Inspection of a strained configuration confirmed that these structural changes approximately correspond to affine, uniaxial deformation. For the mixed M = (2, 12) linker gel, qualitatively different deformation-induced structural changes were evident. Despite little change in the perpendicular direction, deformation enhanced structural correlations in the direction parallel to stretching, as evidenced by an increase in height of the static structure factor and the development of short-range ordering reminiscent of cluster formation in the radial distribution function. The configuration snapshot of the mixed linker gel visually confirms that its structural changes reflect a spatially heterogeneous nanoparticle distribution (Fig. ).