相关论文: First Jump of Microgel: Actuation Speed Enhancemen…

Many elastic structures have two possible equilibrium states: from umbrellas that become inverted in a sudden gust of wind, to nano-electromechanical switches, origami patterns and the hopper popper, which jumps after being turned…

Electric voltage applied in electrowetting can induce speading, sliding and even jumping of an individual droplet by changing the intrinsic balance of three-phase interfacial tensions, which has been widely used for droplet manipulating in…

Hollow microgels are elastic polymer shells easily realizable in experiments. Recent works have shown the emergence of buckling events in dilute hollow microgels under the effect of an added osmotic pressure. Here, we perform large-scale…

We report on the capillary-induced snapping of elastic beams. We show that a millimeter-sized water drop gently deposited on a thin buckled polymer strip may trigger an elastocapillary snap-through instability. We investigate experimentally…

Micro-organisms propel themselves in viscous environments by the periodic, nonreciprocal beating of slender appendages known as flagella. Active materials have been widely exploited to mimic this form of locomotion. However, the realization…

We introduce a droplet-jumping phenomenon on a superhydrophobic surface driven by the resonant AC electrowetting. The resonant electrical actuation enables a droplet to accumulate sufficient surface energy for jumping, and superhydrophobic…

We numerically study the dynamics of a passive fluid droplet confined within a microchannel whose walls are covered with a thin layer of active gel. The latter represents a fluid of extensile material modelling, for example, a suspension of…

Hydrogels have had a profound impact in the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and materials science as a whole. Due to the network architecture of these materials, imbibement with water often results in uniform swelling and…

Helical structures, almost ubiquitous in biological systems, have inspired the design and manufacturing of helical devices with applications in nanoelecromechanical systems (NEMS), morphing structures, optoelectronics, micro-robotics and…

Grip, walk, crawl, and jump. Soft robots are integrated functional structures composed of compliant mechanisms, whose activity spans various industrial applications such as surgery, healthcare, surveillance, and even planetary exploration.…

Curved elastic shells can be fabricated through molding or by harnessing residual stresses. These shells often exhibit snap-through behavior and multistability when loaded. We present a unique way of fabricating curved elastic shells that…

Many elastic structures exhibit rapid shape transitions between two possible equilibrium states: umbrellas become inverted in strong wind and hopper popper toys jump when turned inside-out. This snap-through is a general motif for the…

Using numerical simulations, we characterized the behavior of an elastic membrane immersed in an active fluid. Our findings reveal a nontrivial folding and re-expansion of the membrane that is controlled by the interplay of its resistance…

Inspired by the snap-through action of a steel hairclip, we propose a design method for in-plane prestressed mechanisms that exhibit biomimetic morphing and high locomotion performance. Compliant bistable flapping mechanisms are fabricated…

Intuitively, slow droplets stick to a surface and faster droplets splash or bounce. However, recent work suggests that on non-wetting surfaces, whether microdroplets stick or bounce depends only on their size and fluid properties, but not…

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) does not only serve as the textbook model for a carnivorous plant, but also has long intrigued both botanists and engineers with its rapidly closing leaf trap. The trap closure is triggered by two…

With exquisite precision and reproducibility, cells orchestrate the cooperative action of thousands of nanometer-sized molecular motors to carry out mechanical tasks at much larger length scales, such as cell motility, division and…

Some members of the vegetal kingdom can achieve surprisingly fast movements making use of a clever combination of evaporation, elasticity and cavitation. In this process, enthalpic energy is transformed into elastic energy and suddenly…

We consider the dynamics of micro-sized, asymmetrically-coated thermoresponsive hydrogel ribbons (microgels) under periodic heating and cooling in the confined space between two planar surfaces. As the result of the temperature changes, the…

The Leidenfrost effect occurs when an object near a hot surface vaporizes rapidly enough to lift itself up and hover. Although well-understood for liquids and stiff sublimable solids, nothing is known about the effect with materials whose…