Spatially non-uniform stresses developed within slender elastic structures can be used to define a wide variety of buckling modes that provide control over the three-dimensional shapes of materials. In particular, non-uniform spatial patterns of expansion, contraction, or shape change within thin films provide a route to change the Gaussian curvature of a sheet and therefore to access complex forms. By incorporating stimuli-responsive soft materials, such as hydrogels, within such constructs, it is possible to prepare materials with dynamically reconfigurable shapes and properties. In this regard, light represents an attractive stimulus for both programming and actuating shape changes with high resolution in both space and time. Using strongly absorbing plasmonic nanoparticles as a means to transduce light into heat, we have explored the photothermal reprogramming of shape in thin films of temperature-responsive hydrogel films. In addition to controlling their three-dimensional configuration, placement of these materials at air-water interfaces allows for dynamic regulation of their capillary interactions, leading to on-demand assembly and dis-assembly. Dynamic, or in some cases even static, patterns of light can be used to drive sustained motions through shape changes.

Driving reconfiguration, assembly, and motion of hydrogel sheets with light

2019 Spring National Meeting

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