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Multiscale Structures Aggregated by Imprinted Nanofibers for Functional Surfaces

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Published on: September 11, 2018

Multiscale Soft Surface Instabilities for Adhesion Enhancement.

Vaisakh Vilavinalthundil Mohanan¹, Ho Yi Lydia Mak^1,2, Nishan Gurung³

¹Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Materials (Basel, Switzerland)

|February 15, 2022

Summary

Soft polymeric gels exhibit buckling instabilities that enhance adhesion. Swelling-induced surface patterns in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) gels significantly increase adhesion energy, benefiting functional interface design.

Keywords:

adhesion instabilities soft gels swelling

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Polymer Science
Surface Engineering

Background:

Soft polymeric gels, like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), are prone to buckling instabilities due to their high compliance.
Surface instability patterns in soft materials offer potential for engineering advanced functional materials with tunable surface properties.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how swelling-induced instability patterns improve the adhesive properties of soft PDMS gels.
To understand the relationship between surface features and enhanced adhesion energy.

Main Methods:

Systematic investigation of swelling-induced instabilities in PDMS gels.
Direct imaging of surface instability formation during gel relaxation.
Analysis of adhesion energy and contact line variations.

Main Results:

Swelling-induced surface instability patterns were observed to form during the relaxation of PDMS gels.
These patterns significantly increased the adhesion energy of the soft gels across multiple length scales.
Adhesion enhancement was correlated with changes in contact line behavior within and around the contact region.

Conclusions:

Swelling-induced instabilities in soft gels can effectively enhance adhesive properties.
The observed phenomenon has implications for designing advanced functional interfaces.
Further research into these instability patterns can drive innovation in engineered materials.