Kim Develops New Surface Design Inspired by Snake Skin
February 5, 2018 | University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Assistant Professor Seok Kim and graduate students Zining Yang and Jun Kyu Park have developed a design construct inspired in part by the surface of butterflies and snakes, where flexible skins are fully covered by rigid, discrete scales.
Their new surface design features rigid scales assembled into soft, ferromagnetic micropillars on a flexible substrate in a predesigned manner by transfer printing-based deterministic assembly. The nanostructured silicon scales on the magnetically responsive elastomer micropillar array enables fluid and light manipulation. The functional properties of the surface are dictated by the scales’ patterns, while the micropillar array is magnetically actuated with large-range, instantaneous, and reversible deformation.
Kim and his researchers were able to design, characterize, and analyze a wide range of functions, such as tunable wetting, droplet manipulation, tunable optical transmission, and structural coloration, by incorporating a wide range of scales—bare silicon, black silicon, and photonic crystal scales—in both in-plane and out-of-plane configurations.
Magnetically response materials like soft elastomers loaded with magnetic particles, are desirable for their real-time manipulation of fluid, light, solid particles, and living cells – thanks to their instantaneous structural tenability under a magnetic field. However, due to the fabrication process, most existing surfaces of this kind are limited in their functional ability.
“Compared with common responsive surface with simple design (the magnetic micropillar array), the surface developed in our work not only has enhanced performance in directional liquid spreading and optical transmission tuning, but also enables novel functions such as droplet manipulation and dynamic structural coloration,” said Yang, PhD candidate and first author of the study.
Their results suggest a versatile platform for both fluid and light manipulations at both the micro and macroscale. Potential applications can be found in digital microfluidics, biomedical devices, virtual blinds, camouflage surfaces, and micromirror arrays. Further work could also result in more biomimetic functionalities such as robotic locomotion, swimming, self-cleaning, and solid object manipulation. Their design could also be integrated with active devices such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, and lasers as scales to form novel flexible optoelectronics.
Kim is a leading scientist in advanced transfer printing and transfer printing-based microassembly. He joined the MechSE Department as an assistant professor in 2011. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2000 from Pohang University of Science and Technology (South Korea), a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 2005 from UCLA, and a PhD in mechanical engineering in 2009 from Carnegie Mellon University.
Suggested Items
Absolute EMS Successfully Recertifies ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100 Standards
03/26/2024 | Absolute EMS, Inc.Absolute EMS, Inc., an award-winning EMS provider of turnkey contract manufacturing services, is proud to announce the successful recertification of its ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100 Rev D SAE International Aerospace Standards.
Arlon EMC Receives IPC-4101 QPL Recertification
03/20/2024 | Arlon Electronic MaterialsArlon Electronic Materials has successfully completed an intensive two-day recertification audit by IPC Validation Services that examined Arlon’s manufacturing processes and testing procedures to assure that they are in conformance to the requirements of IPC-4101E-WAM1, the Specification for Base Materials for Rigid and Multilayer Printed Boards.
Northrop Grumman Honors Suppliers for Excellence
03/14/2024 | Northrop GrummanNorthrop Grumman Corporation honored more than 70 suppliers for their outstanding contributions in 2023. In an annual recognition event, the companies included women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses as well as those operating in underdeveloped areas.
Cicor Acquires TT Electronics IoT Solutions
03/04/2024 | Cicor Technologies Ltd.The Cicor Group has signed an agreement to acquire TT Electronics IoT Solutions Ltd, with three production sites in the UK and China.
AEM, Texas Aerospace Technologies Bolster Partnership for Latin America
02/26/2024 | AEM Corp.Canadian avionics manufacturer, Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp. (AEM), is pleased to announce a partnership expansion with Texas Aerospace Technologies, a subsidiary of Texas Aerospace Services, to add AEM’s new MTP136D modern panel-mount P25 VHF FM Forest Service radio to its lineup of product offerings for their Latin American customers.