Crack engineering for the construction of arbitrary hierarchical architectures

Wanbo Li; Miao Yu; Jing Sun; Kentaro Mochizuki; Siyu Chen; Huanxi Zheng; Jiaqian Li; Shuhuai Yao; Hongkai Wu; Beng S Ong; Satoshi Kawata; Zuankai Wang; Kangning Ren

doi:10.1073/pnas.1915332116

Crack engineering for the construction of arbitrary hierarchical architectures

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Nov 26;116(48):23909-23914. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1915332116. Epub 2019 Nov 7.

Authors

Wanbo Li^{1

2}, Miao Yu³, Jing Sun², Kentaro Mochizuki⁴, Siyu Chen¹, Huanxi Zheng², Jiaqian Li², Shuhuai Yao³, Hongkai Wu⁵, Beng S Ong¹, Satoshi Kawata⁴, Zuankai Wang⁶, Kangning Ren^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China.
⁴ Department of Applied Physics, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China; zuanwang@cityu.edu.hk kangningren@hkbu.edu.hk.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China; zuanwang@cityu.edu.hk kangningren@hkbu.edu.hk.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, 999077 Hong Kong, China.
⁹ HKBU Institute of Research and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, 518057 Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Three-dimensional hierarchical morphologies widely exist in natural and biomimetic materials, which impart preferential functions including liquid and mass transport, energy conversion, and signal transmission for various applications. While notable progress has been made in the design and manufacturing of various hierarchical materials, the state-of-the-art approaches suffer from limited materials selection, high costs, as well as low processing throughput. Herein, by harnessing the configurable elastic crack engineering-controlled formation and configuration of cracks in elastic materials-an effect normally avoided in various industrial processes, we report the development of a facile and powerful technique that enables the faithful transfer of arbitrary hierarchical structures with broad material compatibility and structural and functional integrity. Our work paves the way for the cost-effective, large-scale production of a variety of flexible, inexpensive, and transparent 3D hierarchical and biomimetic materials.

Keywords: biomimetic materials; configurable elastic crack engineering; hierarchical structures; true 3D replication.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't