Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
4 years ago

Crack-Free, Soft Wrinkles Enable Switchable Anisotropic Wetting

Crack-Free, Soft Wrinkles Enable Switchable Anisotropic Wetting
Won-Kyu Lee, Dongjoon Rhee, Teri W. Odom
Soft skin layers on elastomeric substrates are demonstrated to support mechano-responsive wrinkle patterns that do not exhibit cracking under applied strain. Soft fluoropolymer skin layers on pre-strained poly(dimethylsiloxane) slabs achieved crack-free surface wrinkling at high strain regimes not possible by using conventional stiff skin layers. A side-by-side comparison between the soft and hard skin layers after multiple cycles of stretching and releasing revealed that the soft skin layer enabled dynamic control over wrinkle topography without cracks or delamination. We systematically characterized the evolution of wrinkle wavelength, amplitude, and orientation as a function of tensile strain to resolve the crack-free structural transformation. We demonstrated that wrinkled surfaces can guide water spreading along wrinkle orientation, and hence switchable, anisotropic wetting was realized. Wrinkles without the worry: Soft fluoropolymer skin layers on elastomer substrates produced wrinkles that could undergo numerous stretch-and-release cycles without delamination or formation of cracks. A side-by-side comparison with conventional hard skin layers highlighted the integrity and robustness of wrinkles in a soft skin layer as well as their unique properties such as switchable anisotropic water spreading.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/anie.201701968

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